reference
collectio
book i
kansas city
public library
kansas city,
missoun
KANSAS CITY, MO PUBLIC LIBRAR'
D ODD! SDLDLE3
STACKS REF 842 F22ht
Farce de maTtre Pierre
Patfcelin.
Tlie farce of Master
Pierre Patelln,
1905.
THE FARCE OF
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The tmllem of Pierre Ltvet
THE FARCE OF
MASTER PIERRE
PATELIN
Composed by an unknown Author about 1469 A. D.
Englished by RICHARD HOLBROOK
Illustrated with facsimiles of
the woodcuts in the edition of
PIERRE LEVET, Paris, ca. 1489
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
THE RIVERSIDE PRESS CAMBRIDGE
MDCCCCV
COPYRIGHT 1905 BY RICHARD HOLBROOK
ALL EIGHTS RESERVED
Published November iqo$
To my friends
WILLIAM LYON PHELPS
and
WILLIAM ALBERT NITZE
CONTENTS
Preface ....... ix xv
Setting of the Comedie Franchise . . xvii xix
Introduction ..... xxi xxxviii
The Text 1-94
Notes on the Text ..... 95112
Notes on the Cuts . . . . 113116
LIST OF ILL USr RATIONS
The emblem of Pierre Levet . . . Frontispiece
Patelin, counting on his fingers .... 7
It is too much ...... 15
The Draper visits Patelin . , . . * 33
The Shepherd comes to explain . . . 6 1
The court scene . . . . . 71
Patelin tries to collect his fee . . . . 91
[vii]
PREFACE
ALL that I have to say of Patelin as a
work of literature will be found in the
Introduction or in the Notes on the
Text. It is not amiss therefore to make here cer-
tain remarks of a more dry and technical nature.
This translation was made from my manuscript
copy of the only known extant exemplar of the
Patelin printed by Guillaume Le Roy* at Lyons,
about 1486. Before December 20, i49O,f Le Roy's
Patelin was faithfully reprinted, with six excellent
illustrative woodcuts, by Pierre Levet, a celebrated
Parisian printer and publisher. Of Levet' s Pate-
liny also, only one exemplar is now believed to ex-
ist. This book, which is preserved at the Biblio-
theque Nationale in Paris, is a beautiful specimen
* Lent me by its generous owner, M. Albert Rosset of Lyons,
France.
-J- See my essay on 'Maitre Patelin in the Gothic editions by
Pierre Levet and Germain Beneaut,' in Modern Philology for
June, 1905.
[ir]
PREFACE
of early printing, and is fortunately in perfect con-
dition. I say < fortunately ' because several pages
have at some indefinite period been lost from the
older Patelin by Le Roy. These are now replaced
by pen-and-ink counterfeits, probably derived
from Levet, and executed so skilfully as almost to
escape detection.
From the fifteenth century only one manuscript
has come down. Whether or not this manuscript
is earlier than Le Roy's edition, it offers a less
authoritative text, and only one of its readings has
been followed in this translation. But, since Le
Roy's edition is probably the first, and as it is
hardly more than seventeen years younger than the
farce itself (ca. 1469), there is no reason to suppose
that it differs essentially from the author's manu-
script, which, no doubt, was long ago thumbed
out of existence by the first actors who performed
his masterpiece.
It may be interesting to know how Founder's
version of this farce is arranged for production at
the Comedie Franchise. It is divided into three
acts. The first ends with the Draper's soliloquy,
Scene iv (lines 344-351). The second act begins,
therefore, with Scene v. Scene vi, except the
words c Hello ! Master Pierre ! ' spoken by the
Draper a moment after he has knocked at Patelin's
door, must be omitted. The Draper's soliloquy
PREFACE
at the end of Scene vm will be uttered before he
quits Patelin's bedroom.
Pursuing this system, we must omit Scene x and
Scene xn, though we hear the Draper pounding
angrily on Patelin's door, and distinguish the words
c Ho, there! mis'ess : where are you hiding?'
Next, the Draper must speak the lines of Scene
xiv, not in the street, but at Patelin's, as a kind of
soliloquy.
Act in begins with Scene xvi. As the Shepherd
leaves him, the Draper disappears within his shop ;
then the Shepherd, instead of going to Patelin's
house and calling, f Is any one within ? * meets
Patelin as that worthy comes strolling across the
market-place, and accosts him because he recog-
nises by Patelin's dress that he is a lawyer. We
must now give the Shepherd an exit after his last
lines in Scene xvn ; he will reappear, somewhere
in the crowd, about as the Judge asks, f Where is
the defendant ? Is he present in person ? ' shortly
after the beginning of the trial scene. From this
point onward the piece proceeds precisely as it did
when it was first performed.
In the text of my translation hardly any of these
suggestions for rearrangement occur ; for they are
purely modern and would often contradict the
other set of stage-directions which are reasonably
derived from study of the text. These are largely
PREFACE
my own, though many of them are due to my
notes on a performance of Founder's version at
the Comedie Francaise in August, 1904.
Elsewhere (pages xvii-xix) will be found a pretty
accurate description of the stage-setting adopted
by the Comedie Francaise. Absolute accuracy is
something I am far from claiming ; for while the
play was in progress the pit was rather dim, and
I was too fascinated to be taking notes.
In the oldest texts of Patelm there is but one
stage-direction (see Notes on the Text, Note v),
and there is no division into acts or scenes ; nor
are the verses numbered,
As to costume nothing need be said ; for
M. Boutet de MonveFs sixteen dry-point etch-
ings show admirably how the various personages
in our farce would have been dressed about the
year 1470. In the fourth volume of his work on
Le Costume Historique, Racinet gives a lithographic
reproduction of a fifteenth-century miniature show-
ing what colours might be worn by a Judge, his
Clerk, a Lawyer, and a Bailiff (or Sergent a verge),
etc., in the second half of the fifteenth century.
This lithograph is a copy of a French manuscript
marked c Ancien fonds 9387' and preserved at
the Bibliotheque Nationale. The miniature is no
doubt an accurate representation of a court scene
of that period. But the court scene in Patelin
[xii]
PREFACE
may reasonably be supposed to occur in a market-
place.
As we learn from the opening conversation be-
tween Patelin and Guillemette, their clothes are
threadbare ; and as the Shepherd says (to Patelin),
c even though I be ill clad/ we may safely assume
that his apparel was mostly in rags.
The six illustrative woodcuts which Pierre Levet
published with his Patelin about 1489 are offered
in facsimile with this translation. These woodcuts
were undoubtedly made especially for Levet's
edition, and were not borrowed, with little or no
sense of fitness, from some earlier work, as com-
monly happened in the infancy of printing. They
are valuable for two reasons : in the first place
they are almost contemporaneous with our farce,
and show, however crudely, what the illustrator,
or illustrators (for there may have been two),
fancied to have been the looks of five characters
whose likes could be observed at any time ; in the
second place, these woodcuts are no doubt the first
that were ever made to illustrate for the printing-
press a comedy composed in a modern tongue.
Do they prove anything as to the use of stage
scenery? Or are we to believe their setting is
purely conventional, chosen merely because the
engraver did not care to sketch figures in the
air ? The question is hard to answer, yet I am con-
PREFACE
vinced that the farces were not performed on empty
platforms ; the ' serious drama ' was staged with
complicated machinery., and it is hardly reasonable
to suppose that the farces, which grew out of the
c serious drama' and were often performed with it,
could have lacked all scenery, or that they had,
forsooth, no other setting than a wall, a floor, a
bench and a chair. No archaeological proof exists
to compel conscientious moderns to adopt a scene-
less stage in performing medieval comedies; on
the other hand, art does not require that they be
elaborately staged, with gorgeous scenery such as
is generally used to make Shakespere's plays seem
more plausible to persons whose imaginations can
not perceive the temple-haunting martlet amid
his lov'd mansionry.
Now, as to this translation. To the best of my
belief no other English translation of Patelin has
ever been printed. Thus there was no model,
either to help or to harm ; nor was there, further-
more, any adequate dictionary to quicken the
pace. I cannot say, as Shelton said of his Don
gtuixote, that I did this work in forty days. It
has taken nearer twenty months, and in this case it
is not at all true that c le temps ne fait rien a
1' affaire'; for Patelin teems with difficulties,
some of them so great that perhaps they may
never be solved, while others yield their secret
[xiv]
PREFACE
only after one has ransacked a dozen volumes for
the answer. Of course the commentators* help,
especially when they are scholars like Mr. Kris-
toffer Nyrop or the late Gaston Paris, but in the
main the translator has had to make his way alone,
then retrace his steps a score of times, smoothing
his path little by little, until he concludes at last
that further efforts on his part are vain. He is
a pioneer and knows perfectly well that some day
the work will be better done.
* Genin's edition, published In 1854, snou ^ not be forgotten.
Genin put forth several theories whose falsity could hardly have
failed to be evident to some of his contemporaries, and not only
his text, but also his commentary, contains many inaccuracies ;
yet Genin, despite his whimsies, was a clever man, and his edi-
tion deserved the recognition accorded to it by Littre and Renan.
Ample allowance must be made for the fact that Romance philo-
logy was at that time a new science.
Paul Lacroix published his edition of Patelin in 1 859. Lacroix
made some improvements in the text, but his notes, often derived
from Genin, show no great advance, and are marred by their
facetious abuse of Genin.
[XV]
THE STAGE-SETTING OF
THE COM&DIE FRANQAISE
(With some stage-directions)
ACT I
AM ARKET-PLACE, such as one might
have seen in a small French town about
the year 1469. To the left, a low build-
ing of which two sides are partly visible. This
is the shop of the draper Guillaume Joceaulme,
whose name is written in large Gothic letters over
the heavy double door. Behind this shop, but
separated from it by a lane, stands a dwelling
whose roof rises from several gables to various
peaks, joined by decorative ridges. A little further
to the right, in the distant background, stands a
church tower, skirted on the left by a narrow street
which is lost to view among the houses that lean
over it and straggle along its sides. In the fore-
ground, half concealing the church tower, is a
xvii
STAGE-SETTING
stone canopy, or market-cross, whose roof rises
steeply to a stone tuft, like the finial of a cathedral
In each of the four sides of this structure is a
niche with a stone seat. The only seat visible will
be occupied by the Judge during the trial scene.
The whole canopy rests on masonry so disposed
as to form six or seven steps on all four sides.
In the foreground to the right 3 facing the shop
of Guillaume, is a stone dwelling, and beyond it,
in the background, are other buildings through
which runs a street so narrow and tortuous that it
is soon lost to view in an uncertain mass of houses
which separate it from the church.
In the foreground, between the market-cross
and the Draper's shop, stands a short thick post
on which rests a box with a slot in it to admit the
GodVpennies of those who trade in the market-
place.
When the curtain rises on this Gothic scene
the townsfolk are just beginning to bestir them-
selves for the day's business and the glow of
morning is visible over the housetops, though
the light has not illuminated the crooked lanes.
There are vague noises ; an apprentice opens the
Draper's shop, brings out a table, and upon this
counter he sets about arranging some of his
master's goods in orderly piles. Presently Master
Pierre Patelin emerges from the street to the left,
[ xviii ]
STAGE-SETTING
followed by his wife Guillemette. The lawyer is
bent in meditation. As he slowly enters the mar-
ket-place he begins to speak to Guillemette.
ACT II
A room in Patelin's house. In the left wall is
a door opening on the street. Against the rear
wall stands a bedstead with a tester whose curtains
reach the floor and may be drawn so as to hide the
bed completely. Near the bed and the door is
a great armchair. In the wall to the right is a win-
dow through which enters a rather dim light. Be-
fore this window stands a heavy wooden table,
very plain, and close to the table is an ordinary
chair. Though the room looks tidy enough,
everything about it bears witness to poverty.
ACT: in
The Draper's shop is closed; otherwise the
same setting as for Act I.
[ xix ]
INTRODUCTION
PA C TELIN belongs to a series of farces
which had come mysteriously into being
as early as 1277, when a little piece called
tfbe Boy and the Blind Man was performed at
Tournay.* Most of these farces have been lost,
but the hundred and fifty or so that happen to
* If not in 1277, at all events about that time. This tiny
farce was discovered by M. Paul Meyer some forty years ago.
Of the farces extant two score were found by some one rummag-
ing in a Berlin attic about 1 840. The Boy and the Blind Man
owes its preservation to the happy chance that some scribe saw
fit to copy it at the end of a manuscript containing the Roman
d* Akxandre.
This farce is no shapeless embryo, but shows, on the contrary,
that farce-makers must have been plying then* trade as early, at
least, as 1250. The theme of The Boy and the Blind Man is
picaresque. An urchin offers to lead a blind man, whose trust-
fulness he rewards by robbery and violence ; but, like Moliere's
Scapin, the boy contrives to make his victim believe that some
third person is guilty.
Two comic plays by Adam de la Hale belong to the same
period, but they could scarcely be called farces.
C xxi ]
INTRODUCTION
survive show clearly enough what must have been
the character and range of alL
The old farces breathe the scandal and mockery
of their time. Seldom if ever do they rise to a
height from which man can be seen in his relation
to the world. They reek of a cold sensuality into
which love never enters. They are nearly all de-
void of the humour which accompanies a Moliere's
insight into the weaknesses of man and the vagaries
of society. Like most modern farces they deal
with fads, rather than with the great movements
of their time. No extant farce alludes unmistake-
ably to Jeanne d'Arc : she belonged to an earlier
age than that in which she was born ; but women
with almost no redeeming quality abound, and
are portrayed with a coarseness of feeling and an
indelicacy of language for which occasional wit
cannot atone. Graceful irony, irony like that of
the Franc-archer de Bagnolet, is rare. There are no
heroes and no heroines, no brave actions and no
leaders ; but plenty of rogues and fools, whose guile
and folly give rise to those situations which pica-
resque literature swarms with and which had once
delighted the makers of fabliaux. But these situa-
tions are realistic, almost invariably, and modern.
Whether the farces are base or not, we of the
twentieth century should find it easier to talk
with their authors than with the bards who two
INTRODUCTION
or three centuries earlier had sung of war and
romance.
When the farces began to flourish., chivalry was
rapidly going out of fashion ; the modern world of
business and practical ideas was coming in ; the
bourgeois had ousted the knight, and having money
to spend, he spent it on purveyors who were ready
to tell him about himself and his neighbours. The
town-crier gave him some news, but that was not
highly spiced ; real journalists were still unknown.
At the theatre, and there only, could he get reflec-
tions of life. It mattered little whether these
reflections were false; whether they were due to
sheer second-hand glimpses, so to speak, cast into
disreputable corners, never resting on life's broad
avenues ; he craved sensation, he liked heightened
scenes based on contemporary gossip or contem-
porary facts, flavoured with scandal, something
credible but seemingly not commonplace.
In the long-winded mysteries he could witness
the spectacular performance of biblical scenes from
the Creation to the Crucifixion, or of scenes de-
rived from later history and legend. The miracle-
plays manifested the power of Our Lady or of
some saint, intervening in behalf of a medieval or
earlier celebrity on the brink of perdition. In both
these types thoroughly popular scenes abounded.
Many specimens of the ' serious drama ' contain
[ xxiii ]
INTRODUCTION
comic episodes, different, however, from those of
the farces. In the Middle Ages the Devil in-
spired terror, but he was also closely akin to the
mountebank. Hence his presence on the medieval
stage. Clad in skins of beasts, or in other fan-
tastic garb, he and his imps performed antics both
fearful and grotesque.
The moralities were commonly didactic, and
dealt, like Everyman, with abstractions, such as
Gluttony and the five senses, Lust, Learning,
or Better-than-before ; the sotties are mainly clap-
trap satirical dialogues showing little or no plot
and composed for clowns or sots y who enlivened
their garrulous banter by performing acrobatic
feats. These sotties were written in verse, but
otherwise they closely resemble the medleys of
dialogue, song, and gymnastics to be found now-
adays at almost any music-hall.
With the sotties and the moralities the farces
have a great deal in common, so much, some-
times, that one can hardly distinguish between
them ; but the farces are generally more like life.,
and there are some reasons for believing that they
were more popular.* In them the bourgeois saw
* This Introduction merely glimpses into the history of medi-
eval drama. Mr. E. K. Chambers has gathered an immense
mass of information in his two volumes on The Medieval Stage,
Oxford, 1903, and Mr. J. Mortensen's very readable book on
[ xxiv ]
INTRODUCTION
images of his existence, and though the reflection
of reality often resembles the distorted figures
beheld in some old-fashioned mirror, never before
had literature come so near to the facts of life in
its homely phases. Like some modern reprobate
who was flattered to find a grossly realistic carica-
ture of himself in a comic paper, many a citizen
of the fifteenth century, happening to find himself
travestied in a farce, could have said, Get ignoble
individuy cest moi ! The farces were, in fact, the
only form of art that enabled him to witness house-
hold or other familiar scenes, and little as the aver-
age truth was like the theatrical representation, his
enjoyment was immense. Through eye and ear
he could relish depravity with nothing more than
a mental participation in the sin. Here was an
offset to the humdrum round. At church he could
hear the parish priest chant psalms and pray for
the cure of souls ; at the theatre he might catch
him in merrier business, conniving with crafty
housewives to gull their husbands, and sinning as
often as he could get a chance to sin. Here foolish
rich men were regularly bamboozled by sly c ga-
lants ' ; merchants cheated and were cheated in their
turn ; fools gave rein to their folly ; everybody was
tempted and fell. The whole middle-class world,
Le theatre fran$ais au moyen age, Paris, 1903, also deals with
INTRODUCTION
and sometimes nobles or churls, had an opportun-
ity to be vividly ridiculous.
In these old farces vice almost always gets the
better of virtue; thinking is mostly scheming; love
is mere feigning ; truth is boldly sacrificed to mirth.,
and mirth is the aim of all. No wonder that Bos-
suet, finding the same old esprit gaulois alive in
Moliere, called him an c infamous histrion/ Nor
is it in the least astonishing that a parish priest,
and later the Archbishop of Paris, refused to
allow Moliere's body to be buried in consecrated
ground. These ecclesiastics were merely keeping
up a tradition which their predecessors had estab-
lished when the farce-makers, indifferent as to the
morality of their dramatis fersonae, were charged
with undoing the work of the Church. There is,
indeed, no reason to suppose that the old farces
increased either piety or goodness, however much
they may have amused their hearers and sharpened
their wits.
He who seeks to build a history of manners
out of such material must be wary indeed; for
the farces display a perverted interest in special
aspects of vice and folly in the lower and middle
classes, or their familiars, rather than in all con-
temporary life. But they record the every-day
language of their time. Without them to help
us, we should not know a wide variety of oaths.
INTRODUCTION
slang, saws, superstitions, and so forth ; had the
specimens that survive been lost, the habits and
every-day thoughts of the fourteenth, fifteenth,
and early sixteenth centuries would be even further
beyond our ken than now.
The old farces were always composed in octo-
syllabic rime, are written in a conversational style,
and they are never poetical. They are for the most
part brief, not a third as long as Patelin. Some-
times one finds a neatly constructed plot, and in-
genious situations are not lacking ; but in general
they are flimsily constructed and seem more like
dramatised anecdotes than like true drama ; natural
motives are too often absent, and their psychology
is not so accurate as that which our modern farces
commonly display, yet the dialogue is often lively
and produces an adequate illusion.
From what has been said it need not be sup-
posed that shallowness was universal ; for Villon
knew himself, at least, and embodied his wayward,
passionate, will-less life in lyric verse which for
vividness and sincerity surpasses all other lyric
poetry written in his time or in the Middle Ages.
He is the most gifted poet of the fifteenth cen-
tury, as the author of Patelin is its most gifted
dramatist. The historian Commines was another
shrewd observer of his fellow men, and these are
not all. Great, too, though the defects of the
[ xxvii "I
INTRODUCTION
farces are, they show a keener appreciation of re-
ality and a greater gift of natural expression than
had been shown by any other form of medieval
literature composed in France, save, perhaps, the
realistic passages in certain nou-velles, in the c serious
drama,' In Villon, and in Adam de la Hale.
The farces must have arisen pretty early in the
thirteenth century ; in the fourteenth century, and
even till the middle of the fifteenth, they seem to
have languished ; for farce-makers could not thrive
amid war and waste. The relatively prosperous
times that followed the Hundred Years' War were
their Golden Age; but the Renaissance, with its
Plautus and Terence, who for some twelve centu-
ries had been preserved by monks more capable
of copying manuscripts than of understanding
them, brought new ideals. Playwrights began to
forsake the market-place and the farces grew fewer
and fewer, though the writing of them never wholly
ceased. When they lost their hold, most of them
perished ; hardly a manuscript is left, and only
a few were chosen when the early printers began
to search for entertaining matter amid the ruck of
the Middle Ages.
Patelin distinctly belongs to the genre^ but in
every regard it excels all other extant farces. The
author of this piece, whoever he may have been
and wherever he may have lived, was a genius, and
[ xxviii ]
INTRODUCTION
when he wrote it he was inspired. Remote as he
must ever remain from us, we know that he was
not remote from his own time. He catches its spirit
and embodies that spirit in forms whose first words
cast the spell of illusion which is essential to all
dramatic art.
Whether the author of Patelin cared deeply
about morals is an unsolvable riddle. Michelet
declares somewhere that Patelin is the c epic of
an age of rogues ' ; unquestionably rogues are its
heroes and their rascality is its theme. If that
* practical ' monarch Louis XI * ever saw Patelin
performed and nothing undemonstrable is more
likely how keenly he must have relished its com-
mon sense, its mirthful and remorseless roguery !
We may imagine his laughter as he saw one rascal
outwit another, until a mere lout, a c sheep in cloth-
ing/ outwits them all. That was something after his
own heart. We need not regard the five worthies
of our farce as disciples of Louis XI : they are
more than that, for they express what is unloveable
in that century more plainly than does the King.
They represent in several distinct and ludicrous
phases the poverty, the greed, the cynical cunning,
the selfishness, and the grinning depravity charac-
teristic of the fifteenth century, at least in France,
* See Ernest Renan's essay on Patelin in his Essais de morale
et de critique, 1859.
[ xxix ]
INTRODUCTION
Patelln is a shabby pettifogger; his successful
fellow barristers are arrayed, as he says, in silks
and satins, de camelos . . . et de camocas ; but the
apparel is nothing : the lawyers are mostly rogues.
And so is our Judge : he cares little about dealing
out justice and he invites Patelin to sup with him,
though that lawyer has spent a Saturday in the
stocks. The Draper is both greedy and sly ; the
Shepherd is a numbskull with a highly developed
bump of villainy. And what is Guillemette ? A
receiver of stolen goods. Not one of these types
has any sense of right. Their morality, as Renan
says, is to succeed ; their greatest weakness, their
only absurdity, is to be outdone. Philippe de
Commines sums up their ethics in a maxim :
c Ceulx qui gaignent,' says he, f en ont tousjours
Thonneur/
Patelin scored an immense success. It had two
sequels, both worthless, and was often quoted. If
that merry friar Guillaume Alexis is not the first to
allude, by citation, to our farce, the earliest known
record of it may be found in a legal document.
This document, a grant of pardon issued by
Louis XI before Easter, 1469, recites that one
Jean de Costes, who had been employed in the
King's chancellery, was drinking one day with sev-
eral companions at an inn kept by Glaude Sillon
at Tours. After supper Jean de Costes stretched
[ xxx ]
INTRODUCTION
himself out on a bench by the fire, saying, c By God,
I am ill I ' ; and, as the document tells us, he
addressed these words to the wife of the aforesaid
Glaude Sillon and said, f I would fain sleep here,
and not go back to-day to my lodgings/ Here-
upon the aforesaid Le Danceur [who seems to
have started the quarrel in which he was killed]
went and spoke to the aforesaid suppliant as
follows : c Jehan de Costes, I know you well ; you
fancy to play Patelin and to feign illness, because
you are planning to sleep here ' (Jehan de Costes,
je vous cognoys Men : vous cuidez pateliner et faire
du malade^ pour cuider couch er ceans),
In a short time the name Patelin had become
proverbial and the Farce of Patelin had attained
a vogue unparalleled in the history of the early
stage and rarely equalled since. Of five edi-
tions printed between 1485, or thereabouts, and
1500, five unique exemplars are known to survive ;
several other editions must have existed. Two or
three editions published shortly after 1500 are also
represented by only one exemplar ; at least a score
appeared during the sixteenth century, and the
popularity of our farce scarcely waned till French
playwrights began, as we have seen, to be ashamed
of what had once delighted the common folk,
and set learnedly about imitating Roman comedy ;
but the esprit gaulois could not be quelled, and
[ xxxi ]
INTRODUCTION
we find it once more, more vigorous than ever and
lifted out of its wallow of lubricity, though not
yet angelically pure, in the comedies of Moliere,
Patelin is not the starting-point of any school,
but it would be a long task to narrate the history
of its influence on literature in and out of France.
Some of its phrases are used by Guillaume Alexis,
Coquillart, and others. In 1560 Estienne Pas-
quier, having read and reread this < sample ' of the
old farces, declared it equal to any Greek, Latin,
or Italian comedy. Marot had no doubt read it,
and Rabelais quotes it again and again. He speaks
of the c noble Patelin/ who was evidently a rascal
after his own heart, and we may be sure that Ra-
belais's famous scene between Panurge and Panta-
gruel was inspired by Patelin. c Epistemon said,
" Parlez vous Christian, mon ami, ou langaige pate-
linois?"' (11,9.)
It was not Rabelais, however, who first carried
Patelin's fame across the Channel ; for not later
than 1535, and probably ten years earlier, A Hun-
dred Mery 'Tales and Quiche Answers contained
an anecdote c Of hym that payde his dette with
crienge bea.'* In 1700 a dull dramatist named
Brueys composed, or, to speak more descriptively,
he manufactured his Patelin, comtdie, compos'ee en
trois actes, avec un prologue, et trois intermedes,
* See Notes on the Text, Note xxxv.
[ xxxii ]
INTRODUCTION
mestts de declamations y de chants et de dames : Et
represent^ four la premiere fois sans Prologue &?
sans interm^des le 4. Juin 1706.*
Had Monsieur de Brueys been born a humorist,
he would either have written better comedies, or
none. With Palaprat's assistance, the abbe pleased
for a while ; that is the best that can be said for
him. Brueys and his contemporaries liked literary
monsters. They borrowed and muddled, very
much as the compilers of mysteries had done
in the Middle Ages. Unfailingly commonplace,
Brueys tells his readers that he had culled from the
old farce as one might gather gold from a dung-
hill. We need not wonder that the abbe decor-
ated his comedy with a Prologue wherein some
worn-out deities air his theories of the drama. Yet
Brueys's hybrid succeeded, and gave birth in its
turn, contra naturam^ to The Village Lawyer ', the
second version of Patelin to be made in England.
This curtain-raiser, ascribed without evidence
to the elder Macready,t was performed at The
Hay market in 1787. ^be Village Lawyer, whose
hero is called not Patelin but Scout, was printed
* See UAvocat Patdin. Translated by S. F. G. Whitaker,
London, 1905 ; reviewed in The Evening Post, New York,
June 12, 1905, and in The Athenaeum, London, August 26,
1905.
f See the Dictionary of National Biography, vol. xxxv, p. 277.
[ xxxiii ]
INTRODUCTION
at Dublin in 1792, having been received, so the
title-page declares, with c Universal Applause ' in
London and in Dublin.
Was this little piece published, without regard
for its author, from one of those unsigned manu-
scripts which actors use ? Or is it possible that the
author had a scrupulous conscience ? Whatever
the truth may be, tfhe Village Lawyer is by no
means so absurd as Brueys's hotchpotch of
modernised medieval folk and pseudo-antique
divinities.
tfhe Village Lawyer was performed at the Park
Theatre, in New York City, in November, 1801,
and again in 1808. The elder Jefferson (1774-
1 832,) * played the part of Sheepface, who is merely
Thibaut Agnelet (or f Lambkin '), in his second
reincarnation. In 1863 one James Maffitt, a pirate
by nature, but a playwright by trade, on some
marauding voyage, fell upon ^fke Village Law-
yer. Mrs. Scout and her daughter Kate, being
no longer useful, were made to walk the plank.
Scout, known in other days as Master Pierre
Patelin, or Lawyer Patelin, became Benjamin
Hardcrust. Maffitt was thus rid of any necessity
of seeing Kate wedded to Charles, the son of
* Jefferson left England about 1795. Probably he included
he Village Lawyer in his repertory because it was still popu-
lar.
[ xxxiv ]
INTRODUCTION
Snarl (Brueys's Guillaume), and he needed no
more than a week or so to shear the legal epi-
sode out of The Village Lawyer.
The Mutton Trial* for thus Maffitt named
his plagiary, was performed by four members of
a troop of minstrels, at the American Theatre,
a New York playhouse, in 1863. The cast of
characters was as follows :
SHEEPFACE, a Shepherd .... Charles White
BENJ. HARDCRUST, a Lawyer . . Nelse Seymour
OLD SNARL, a Farmer .... Billy Burke
JUSTICE . James Wambdd
These four actors were probably blackened to
look like negroes, and perhaps they remained so
throughout the long and varied performance in
which tfbe Mutton Trial w&s but an interlude last-
ing c twenty minutes/ That they imitated negro
manners or negro speech is inconceivable.
A notion as to the quality of Maffitt's style may
* The Mutton Trial \ An Ethiopian Sketch, in Two Scenes \
By James Maffitt \ Arranged by Charles White \ The Cele-
brated Ethiopian Comedian \ Author of \ Magic Penny \ Jolly
Millers [here follows a list of two score pieces] etc., etc. | As
first Produced at the American Theatre, No. 444 Broadway j
New York \ etc. , etc. A copy of this rare farce, whose exist-
ence was made known to me by Mr. Brander Matthews, is
preserved at the Library of Congress, where it was deposited
to obtain copyright in 1874.
[ XXXV ]
INTRODUCTION
be derived from the following citations. c Well/
says Hardcrust, c here I am. Lawyer Hardcrust,
with scarcely enough money in my clothes to buy
a meal of victuals/ And on advising Sheepface
how to outwit the law, Hardcrust speaks as fol-
lows : c Well, now understand my plan. Any ques-
tion asked you by the Judge, the Court (sic} 9 or
the jury (sic\ you must answer it in the language
of the old ewes when they call theijr young/ As in
The Village Lawyer -, Sheepface responds, c That is
my mother tongue/ In The Village Lawyer -, when
Scout attempts to collect his fee but gets nothing
save baa!, he cries out angrily, c What, again!
braved by a Mongril Cur, a bleating Bellweather,
a ' ; in the American piece Hardcrust exclaims,
c What ! am I to be outwitted by a country weth-
erbull ! ' Further examples from Maffitt's plagiary
would only serve to show that the original Patelin,
cheapened by Brueys, and afterwards by an un-
known British hack, fell almost to the level of
a buffoon, on his third and final reincarnation.
To retell a long story in few words, the farce of
Patelin came into being in France before 1469, and
assuredly it owes nothing to the story of Mak, the
Thief in what is called 'The Shepherds' Play/ in
the Towneley Mysteries ; its origin is lost in the
same darkness as envelops its author. Patelin is
[ xxxvi ]
INTRODUCTION
wholly French and wholly medieval ; it alludes to
nothing c classic/ and has nothing whatever to do
with ancient comedy. Its popularity was immense ;
by 1520 it had been freely translated into Latin by
Connibert ; by 1 53 5 it was known in England (per-
haps, too, in Germany) ; about 1787 some name-
less British playwright borrowed or stole from
Brueys's hotchpotch (1700) all the plot and many
details of ^he Tillage Lawyer ; about 1863 James
Maffitt plundered The Village Lawyer and called
his booty 'The Mutton ^rial; this final version of
Patelin was performed by c Ethiopian ' minstrels
in New York City, some four centuries after the
original farce had first appeared in France.
No other farce written in the Middle Ages, and
naturally no later comedy, can claim so long and
varied a history ; yet in a mere sketch not half that
history can be told, but the popularity of this farce
is no puzzle: its author hit upon an extraordin-
arily clever plot,* and, unlike his contemporaries,
* This plot, like most others, was doubtless not * created. '
As early as 1370, or thereabouts, Eustache Deschamps had
composed the so-called Farce de Mestre Trubert, a dramatic
satire aimed at pettifoggers, or, one might say, at lawyers in gen-
eral ; for the Bar was in ill repute throughout the Middle Ages.
Trabert is hoodwinked by his client Entroignart ( = Cheat-
em) , who asks his advice about the theft of an almond, a trifling
fact that had led to serious consequences. Having got his re-
tainer, Trubert, not altogether unlike Patelin, proceeds to enumer-
[ xxxvii ]
INTRODUCTION
he had the genius to tell his fable dramatically in
charming verse. Like a precocious child that has
aroused laughter by some show of wit, he repeats
his jests until they begin to stale ; but his insight is
keen, and his characters are drawn so firmly that
each is a type, possible in nature, but nowhere else
to be found in literature. Although close examin-
ation reveals more than one inconsistency, the
illusion that he creates betokens a rare imaginative
power, a clear vision, and so objective a portrayal
of that vision that the author nowhere gives
a genuine clue as to his own personality. We may
agree with Renan in thinking the author of Pat elm
a low and heartless jester; but he betrays nothing,
except, perhaps, a tendency to delight us with
humour wantonly cruel ; he is not a moraliser but
a dramatist, and the best dramas are surely those
that seem to tell the most about other men and
the least about their authors.
ate some of the many wiles by which he knows how to evade
the law. He then suggests a game of dice which results in his
losing his money and his clothes. Similar stories about the Bar
were popular, and it is likely that the author of Pate tin, perhaps
himself a lawyer, built his legal episode on a like anecdote, and
that he welded it to the story of some scalawag who had cheated
a creditor by shamming illness or insanity, a frequent occurrence
in real life. See vol. vn, pp. 155174, and vol. xi, pp. 293
and 294, of the works of Deschamps, in the edition published
by the Societe des Anciens Textes franais.
[ xxxviii ]
rm FARCE OF
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Master Pierre Patelin
SCENE I
(At Lawyer Pateliris dwelling)
PATELIN, GUILLEMETTE
Master Pierre begins
BY Saint Mary ! Guillemette, for all my
pains to pick up something, or bag a little
pelf, not a penny can we save. Now, I
have seen the time when I had clients.
Guillemette
Aye, true enough ! I was thinking of the tune
your lawfolk are warbling. No, you are not
thought so able by any manner of means as you
used to be. I Ve seen the day when everybody
must have you to win his suit ; now you 're called
everywhere the Briefless Barrister.
[3]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin [as if he had not heard~\
Again, I don't say it to brag, but in the circuit
where we hold our sessions there 's no one abler,
except the Mayor.
Guillemette [naively]
Aye, but he has read the Conjuring-book, and
he studied a great while to be a scholar.
Patelin
Whose case ever lags, if I set hand to it ? And
yet I never learnt my letters, save a little, but I'll
venture to say that I can chant by the book with
our priest as well as if I 'd been as long in school
as Charlemaine in Spain !
Guillemette
What is that worth to us ? Not a rap ! We 're
all but starved ; our clothes are downright sieves,
and there 's no telling where new ones are to come
from. Ha ! a fig for all you know !
Patelin
Tush, tush ! Upon my conscience, if I care to
set my wits at work, I shall find a way to get some
finery. Please God, we shall see better days and
be up again in no time. Oh, God's deed is done
[4]
MASTER PIERRE PATELHST
with speed. If it behooves me to stick to business,
they '11 not be able to find my peer.
Guillemette
Aye, that they will not ! At cheating you 're
a masterhand.
Patelin
At regular law ! by the Lord who made rne 1
Guillemette
Upon my word, at gulling, you mean. Oh,
I know what I am talking about ; for, to tell the
truth, though you Ve neither education nor com-
mon sense, you are reckoned about the greatest
slyboots in the whole parish.
Patelin
Nobody is so good at handling cases.
Guillemette
Heaven save me ! You mean at plucking gulls.
They say so anyhow.
Patelin
So they do of those who sport their silks and
satins, and talk of being barristers ; but they 're
not ! Enough of this prattle : I 'm going to
market.
[5]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Guillemette [astonished]
To market?
Pat elm [mimicking her]
Yes, to market, my gentle pricer. Now, what
if I buy a strip of cloth, or some other trifle for
household use ? . . . Our clothes are nothing but
rags.
Guillemette
You have n't a copper. What can you do there ?
Patelin [laying his forefinger on his nose and
winking craftily]
That 's telling ! If I fail, my dear, to fetch you
cloth enough for both of us, and to spare, then
1 7 m a fibber ! [Playfully surveying Guillemette]
What colour suits you best ? A greenish grey ?
Or Brussels cloth? Or some other sort? Tell
me that.
Guillemette
Whatever you can get. Borrowers must not be
choosers.
Patelin [counting on his fingers]
For you, two ells and a half, and for me, three,
or rather, four. That makes . . .
[6]
poucquefqucpatncqueicmc^e
flcofiaffcrnawmoffw
ftousttepottpttstiefjamttffer
Patclm, counting on Msfngers
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Guillemette
Who the mischief will trust you with this cloth ?
You are counting your chickens before they 're
hatched.
Patelin
What do you care ? They '11 trust me, beyond
a doubt, and be paid on Doomsday ; for it
won't be sooner.
Guillemette
Go along, my lamb ; by now somebody else
may have it on.
Patelin \_almost to himself y as he walks slowly away"]
I will buy either grey or green, and for an un-
dergarment, Guillemette, I want three quarters, or
a whole ell of fine dark goods.
Guillemette [shaking her head']
God help me ! so you do. Be off with you !
[Calling^ as he disappears.'] And don't forget your
dram, if you can come by it for nothing !
Patelin
Take care of everything ! [JE#*/.]
[8]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Guillemette [giving vent to her excitement with an
exclamation half oath, half sigh"}
What merchant . . . ? [Brightening.'} If he
only might be stark blind !
SCENE II
(At the shop of Guillaume Joceaulme, Draper)
PATELIN, THE DRAPER
Patelin [peering into the Draper's shop}
Not there ? . . . I have my doubts. . . . Aye,
by Saint Mary, so he is. He 's fussing with his
goods. [While Patelin is reconnoitring^ the Draper
emerges and lays several rolls of goods on his counter,
^hen, on looking up, he spies the Lawyer , who greets
him with a beguiling smiled} My worthy sir, God
bless you !
Guillaume Joceaulme, Draper
And give you joy !
Patelin [leaning his hands on the counter}
I have been really longing to see you, Guil-
laume, How is your health? You 're feeling tip-
top, eh?
[9]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Draper
Aye, that I am !
Patelin [holding out his hand']
Here ! your fist ! How goes it with you ?
Draper
Why, first rate, really and yours to command.
.... And how are you ?
Patelin [giving the Draper a friendly clap on the
shoulder]
By the Apostle Saint Peter, your humble serv-
ant is as happy as a lark ... So you 're feeling
merry, eh ?
The Draper
To be sure. But merchants, you must know,
can't always have their way.
Patelin
How is business ? It yields enough, I trust, to
keep the pot a-boiling ?
The Draper
Afore Heaven, my good sir, I scarcely know.
[Imitating the cluck of a driver to his horse."] It's
always gee up ! go along ! [He sighs."]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin \in a reminiscent revery]
Ah, he was a knowing man I your father was,
I mean. God rest his soul ! [Scanning the Draper
with amazement.~\ When I look at you, I can't
believe I 'm not looking at him ! What a good
merchant he was ! and clever ? . . . \Wamng his
hand in such a way as to suggest the almost limitless
ability of the elder Joceaulme.~\ I swear, your face is
as like his as a regular painting. ... If God ever
took pity on any being, may he grant your father
his soul's pardon ! [fakes off his hat and glances
piously toward heaven. The Draper follows suit."]
The Draper \_sanc timoniously\
Amen ! Through his mercy ! And ours, too,
when it shall please him ! [Both replace their hats."]
Patelin \with a touch of melancholy^
My faith ! Many a time and most copiously he
foretold me the days that we are come to. Again
and again the memory has come back to me.
\_After a slight paused] Then, too, he was deemed
one of the good . . .
The Draper \interrupting Patelirfs reminiscences by
offering him a seat]
Do sit down, sir. It 's high time I asked you
to \self -reproachful^ , but it was just like me to forget.
c ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin [as if anything concerning his own welfare
were of no importance]
Tut, tut, man ! I'm comfortable. . . . He used
to ... \_Another interruption by the Draper , who,
in bis zeal to show good manners to a prospective
customer , leans over bis counter as far as he can,
grasps Patelin by the shoulders^ and endeavours to
force him to sit downl\
Draper
Now, really you must be seated.
Patelin [yielding]
Gladly. \_A short pause y after which Patelin
blithely resumes bis yarn. ~\ Oh, you shall see what
wonders he told me ! ... I '11 take my oath ! in
ears, nose, mouth, eyes, no child was ever so
like his father. [Pointing^] That dimpled chin !
Why, it's you to a dot! And if anybody told
your mother that you were not your father's son,
he *d be hard up for a quarrel. I really cannot
imagine how ever Nature among her works made
two so similar faces. Each marked like the other !
Why look ! If you had both been spat against a
wall in the self-same manner and in one array, you
would n't differ by a hair. But, sir, good Lauren tia,
your step-aunt, is she still living?
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Draper [mystified^
Of course she is.
Patelin [rising]
How comely she seemed to me, and tall, and
straight, and full of graces ! . . . Od's dear mother !
you take after her in figure, as if they had copied
her in snow. No family hereabouts, I think, comes
up to yours for likenesses. The more I see you,
. . . Bless my soul ! [Pointing to a mirror I\
Look at yourself. You 're looking at your father !
[Clapping Joceaulme on the back with jovial famil-
iarity^ You resemble him closer than a drop of
water, I '11 be bound ! . . * What a mettlesome
blade he was ! the worthy man, and entrusted
his wares to whoever wished them. Heaven for-
give him ! He always used to laugh so heartily
with me. Would to God the worst man in the
world resembled him ! There 'd be no robbery
or stealing, as there is. [Feeling a piece of clotb.~\
How well made this cloth is ! how smooth it is,
and soft, and nicely fashioned !
fhe Draper \J>roudly\
I had it made to order from the wool of my
own flock.
Patelin [overflowing with admiration^
You don't say so ! What a manager you are !
[13 3
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
[Jocularly.'] It J s the pater all over again. Blood
will tell ! . . [Awes truck. ~] You are always,
always busy,
The Draper [solemnly]
Why not ? To live, a body must be careful and
put up with trials. [He looks at Patelin^ who nods
assent^]
Patelin [handling another piece of goods']
Was this one dyed in the wool ? It 's as strong
as Cordovan leather.
"The Draper [showing off the weave of bis goods']
That is good cloth of Rouen make, and well
fulled, I promise you.
Patelin
Now, upon my word, that *s caught me ; for I
had no thought of getting cloth, when I came ; by
George, I had n't. I 'd laid aside some four score
crowns for an investment; but twenty or thirty of
them will fall to you ; I see that plainly, for the
colour is so pleasing it gives me an ache. [Sighs 3
as if feeling a rapture akin to pain.~]
Draper [eagerly]
Crowns, you say? Now can it be that your
borrowers would take an odd sum ?
comment^ fcap efiettcfj etE
fre|ioutfe0e|ia
ceff j^uer par fa
Jjf *i too much I
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin
Why, yes, if I chose. It 's no odds to me what
sort of money 's paid. [Picking up the cloth again. ~]
What kind of goods is this ? . . . Really, the more
I see it, the worse I dote. I must have a coat of
that, to be brief, and another for my wife, as
well.
The Draper
Cloth costs like holy oil. You shall have some,
if you like. Ten or twenty francs are sunk so
quickly !
Patelin
I don't care : give me my money's worth,
\_Whispering in the Draper's earJ] I know of an-
other coin or two that nobody ever got a smell of.
Draper
Now you 're talking ! That would be capital !
Patelin
In a word, I 'm hot for this piece, and have
some I must.
Draper
Well then, first you must make up your mind
how much you want. To begin with, though you
had n't a brass farthing, the whole pile is at your
service.
C 16 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin [gazing rather absent-mindedly at the cloth~\
I know that well, thank you.
tfbe Draper
You might like some of this sky-coloured
stuff?
Patelin
First, how much is a single ell to cost? \_On
saying this y Patelin holds up a penny so that the
Draper may get a good look at /"/.] Here Is a penny
to seal the bargain in God's name; God's share
shall be paid first : that stands to reason, and let
us do nothing without calling him to witness.
[Piously doffs his hat, strides solemnly to a box set up
in the market-place for receiving God's pennies, drops
the coin in y and returns to the Draper ^\
The Draper
Upon my word, you speak like a g o o d man,
and I 'm glad to hear you. Shall I set the very
lowest price ?
Patelin
Yes.
tfhe Draper [decisively}
It will cost you four and twenty pence an elL
Patelin
Go to! Four and twenty pence!
Heaven, save the mark !
[ 17 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Draper [laying Ms hand on his heart]
By this soul ! it cost me every whit of that, and
I must lose nothing by the sale.
Patelin
Excuse me! it's too much.
The Draper
You'd never believe how cloth has risen ! This
winter the live-stock all perished in the great frost
Patelin
Twenty pence ! twenty pence !
The Draper
And I swear I will have my price. Wait till
Saturday and you shall see what it J s worth. Wool
on the fleece, of which there used to be a plenty,
cost me on Saint Maudeleyne's day eight good
blanks, my oath on it, for wool I once got
for half as much.
Patelin
Od's blood ! Then I will buy, without further
haggling. Come, measure off!
The Draper
And pray how much must you have ?
[ 18 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin
That is easy to answer. What is the width ?
The Draper
Brussels width.
Patelin [as if to himself \ and cocking his head with-
out looking at the Draper. On saying c she 'j
tall} he makes a gesture as if he were laying
his hand on the head of an imaginary Guille-
mette~]
For m e, three ells, and for her (she 's tall),
two and a half. In all, six ells . . . Why, no it
is n't ! What a dunce I am !
Draper
There wants but half an ell to make the six.
Patelin
Give me the even six, then. I need a hat as
well.
Draper [pointing to the other end of his strip
of doth']
Take hold there. We '11 measure. Here they
are, and no scrimping. [He measures^] One, . . .
and two, . . . and three, . . . and four, . . . and five,
. . . and six !
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin
Saint Peter's paunch ! Measured fair and
square !
The Draper [looking at Patelin^ then turning his
ell in the other direction. Naively]
Shall I measure back again ?
Patetin [with cheerful disdain]
Oh, h no ! In selling goods there's always
a little gain or loss. How much does it all amount
to?
The Draper
Let us see. At four and twenty pence, each,
for the six ells, nine francs.
Patelin [aside]
Hm! Here goes! \jfotheDraper.~] Six crowns?
The Draper
So help me! Yes.
Patelin
Now, sir, will you trust me for them ? . . until
anon, when you come ? \T*he Draper shows symp-
toms of suspicion."] Nay, c trust' is not the word,
for you shall get your crowns at my door, in gold,
or, if you like, in change.
[ 20]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Draper [ungraciously]
Oh thunder ! that 's off my road.
Patelin [with playful irony]
By my lord" Saint Giles, now you "re telling
gospel truth ! Off your road ! That 's It ! You
are never ready to drink at my house, but this is
the time you shall.
The Draper
Good Lord ! I scarcely do any thing but drink !
[After a moment's hesitation."] I '11 come, but let
me tell you it 's bad policy to give credit on a first
sale.
Patelin
What if I pay for it, not in silver or copper,
but in good yellow coin ? \Craftily '.] Oho ! and
you must have a bite of that goose my wife is
roasting !
tfhe Draper \aside\
The man drives me mad. \AloudI\ Go on !
Away ! I will follow you then, and bring the
cloth.
Patelin \nimbly seizing the bundle of goods']
Nothing of the sort ! How will it burden me ?
Not a whit, beneath my elbow . . so.
[21]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
I'be Draper \trying to recover Us property^
No, indeed, sir ! it would look better for me to
bring it.
Patelin [tucking the cloth into his long gown]
I '11 be hanged if you go to such pains ! See
how snug it lies, here, under my elbow. What
a jolly hump it will give me ! Ah! now it's all
right ! \W~ith mock hilarity. ,] We '11 have a fling
before you leave.
'The Draper
I beg you, hand over my money as soon as I 've
arrived.
Patelin
I will that, and by gracious I '11 see to it you
eat heartily. I 'd be sorry to have anything about
me to pay with now. \Very archly I\ At least you
will come and try my wine. When your late
father went by my house he used to sing out,
c Hullo, old pal ! ', or, c What 's the good word?',
or, c How do you do ? ' But you don't care a straw
for poor folk, you rich men !
Draper \Jlattered but deprecatory]
Oh, now, I say ! it 's we who are poorer .
[22]
MASTER PIERRE PATELINT
Patelin [laughing incredulously"]
Whew ! Well, good-bye, good-bye ! Turn
up soon where I told you, and we '11 have a good
drink, you can count on that.
The Draper
I '11 do so. Go ahead, then, and see that I get
gold ! [Patelin starts homeward.']
SCENE III
(In the market-place]
Patelin
Gold! To think of it! Gold! The devil! I
hit the nail on the head that time ! [Overcome
by a sense of immense absurdity.'] No ! gold ! I 'd
see him hanged. [Chuckling."] Pshaw ! He sold to
me not at my price, but at his own ; he shall be
paid, however, at mine. He must have gold ; he
shall get it in the sweet bye and bye! Would
he might run without stopping till he is paid!
By Saint John, he'd travel further than from
here to Pampeluna ! {Enters an alley and disap-
pears^
C 23 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
SCENE IV
(At the Draper's shop)
The Draper.
Those crowns he 's going to pay me shaVt
get a peep at sun or moon this year, unless they 're
stolen from me. It takes two to make a bargain.
That trickster is a big gull to buy at four and
twenty pence an ell cloth not worth twenty !
SCENE V
(At Patelin' s. Guillemette is sitting near the window
and facing it, so as to get all the light that en-
ters through its small and somewhat murky
fanes. On her lap lies a garment which she is
patching. Presently the door is softly opened
and Patelin looks in. Seeing that Guillemette' s
back is turned, and that she is unaware of his
presence, he steals toward her, grinning as he
thinks what a surprise she is about to get.
Suddenly, when he is quite close, she hears him
and turns round with a start. hen Patelin
begins to speak, archly and in a tone of triumph.
PATELIN, GUILLEMETTE
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin
Have I some?
Guillemette \startlea\
Some what ?
Patelin
What ever became of that old gown of yours ?
Guillemette
Much need there is of telling ! What will you
do with it ?
Patelin
Nothing! nothing! Have I some? ....
I told you so ! Is this the cloth ? [He whips the
roll of goods from under his gown and flaunts it in
the face of the astounded Guillemette^
Guillemette
Holy Mother ! Now, as I hope to live, whose
chest did that come from ? \A little frightenedl\
Heaven! what scrape have we got into now?
Dear ! dear ! and who 's to pay for it ?
Patelin
Who, you ask ? By Saint John, it 's paid for.
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The chap who sold me that is n't crazy, my pet, oh,
no ! May I be hanged by the neck if he 's not
well fleeced. The rascally curmudgeon has caught
it across the bum.
Guillemette
But how much is it to cost ?
Patelin
Cost? Nothing! it's paid for. No need of
fretting over that.
Guillemette
Paid for? How? You hadn't a farthing.
Patelin
Oh yes, I had. I had a penny.
Guillemette \ironically\
Oh, very fine ! Fie ! You swore to pay, or you
gave a note of hand. That is how you came by it !
And when the note falls due they '11 come and
seize our things and carry off everything we own.
Patelin [reassuringly]
Upon my word, I gave but a penny for it all.
Guillemette
Benedicite Maria ! A penny ? Impossible !
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin [leaning toward her\
You may pluck out this eye, if he got more, or
if he gets more, bawl though he may.
Gmllemette
But who is he, anyhow ?
Patelin
A numbskull called Guillaume, whose surname
is Joceaulme ; since you must know.
Guillemette
But how came you to get it for a penny ? What
was your game ?
Patelin
It was for God's-penny ; and yet, had I said,
f Let 's bind the bargain with a drink,' I 'd have
kept my penny. Anyhow, 'twas well worked.
God and he shall share that penny, if they care
to ; for it is all they shall get, no matter how
they carry on.
Gmllemette
How came he to trust you ? he 's such a surly
customer.
Patelin
Dash me if I did n't make him out such a noble
lord that he almost gave it me. I told him what
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
a jewel his late father was. ' Ah, brother/ says I,
*what good stock you come of! No family here-
abouts/ says I, c compares with yours for virtues/
but drat me ! what riff-raff! The most ill-tempered
rabble, I suppose, in all this kingdom. < Guil-
laume, my friend/ says I, c what a likeness you
do bear your good father ! and in every feature ! '
God wot how I heaped it on ! And meanwhile
I interlarded something about woollens. c And
then/ says I, ( heavens ! how kind he was about
trusting folks with his wares ! and so meekly !
You 're he/ says I, c his spitten image ! ' Yet you
might have hauled the teeth out of that rascally
old porpoise, his late father, or his monkey of a
son, before they 'd trust a fellow with as much as
that ! [snaps his finger $\ or even be polite. Any-
how, I made such an ado and talked so much that
he trusted me with six ells.
Guillemette
Yes, and he '11 never get them back.
Patelin [derisively]
Get them back ? He J I1 get the devil back !
Guillemette [suggesting by mimicry the action in the
fable of the Fox and the Crow\
I call to mind the fable of the Crow that had
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
perched on a cross, some ten or twelve yards high.
In his beak he was holding a cheese. A Fox
strolled along that way and spied the cheese.
Thought he to himself, c Now, how am I going
to get it ? * Then he stood beneath the Crow.
c Ah,' says he, 'how handsome you are! and
your song is so full of melody ! ' The Crow, like
a fool, hearing such praises of his voice, opened
his beak to sing. Down dropped the cheese, and
in a trice Master Renard had it tight between his
teeth and off he went ! That, I '11 wager, is what
happened to this cloth. You wheedled him out of
it, just as Renard got the cheese.
Patelin
He is coming to eat some goose, on a wild
goose chase, I mean. Now here 's our game. Of
course he will be braying to get money on the
spot ; so I Ve hatched out a nice arrangement.
I '11 simply lie on my bed, and play sick ; then.,
when he comes, you will say, c Oh, do speak low !*
Then you must groan and pull a long face.
'Alas!' (you'll say) c he fell sick these two
months past,' or say six weeks, and if he
cries, c That 's all flim-flam, for he has just been
at my shop/ you must say, c Alas ! this is no
time to romp ! * Then let me pipe him a little
tune, for music is all he shall get.
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN"
Guillemette
Trust me to play the game, but if you slip
up again, you may smart for it : I bet you '11 catch
it a good bit worse than the other time.
Patelin
Hush now ! I know what I 'm about. We must
both do as I say.
Guillemette
For goodness sake remember that Saturday they
put you in the stocks ! You know how every
one jeered at you for your trickery.
Patelin
Do stop your chatter : he '11 be here before
we know it. That cloth must stay with us [bid-
ing it under the mattress} . Now I 'm going to
bed.
Guillemette {laughing at bis burlesque preparations']
Go ahead !
Patelin [under the bedclothes]
No laughing, now !
Guillemette \_as sbe draws the bedcurtains together]
Well, rather not ! I '11 shed hot tears.
[ 30 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin
We must stand fast, now. No flinching, or he 11
see what 's up.
SCENE VI
(At the Draper's shop)
The Draper
I must have a parting drink. Why no., I won't !
for, by Saint Mat., I shall have some wine with
Master Pierre Patelin,and a bit of his goose. And
there I J m to receive some funds. I 'm in for some
plum, there, at the very least, and at no expense !
There is no use in staying here ; for I can make
no further sales. [Leaves his shop; knocks on
Patelin' s door.~\ Hello ! Master Pierre!
SCENE VII
(At Patelin' s)
THE DRAPER, GUILLEMETTE, PATELIN
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Guillemette \opening the door a chink and laying her
fnger on her lip$\
Oh, sir, if you have anything to say, for mercy's
sake speak lower !
be Draper
God keep you, mis'ess !
Guillemette
Oh, not so loud !
'The Draper ^astonished and puzzled~\
Huh ? What is the matter ?
Guillemette [feigning amazement]
Bless my soul !
he Draper
Where is he ?
Guillemette
Alas ! Where should he be ?
Draper
The . . . Who?
Guillemette
Ah, sir, how unkind ! Where is he ? May God
in his mercy know ! He has lain on the very same
spot, poor martyr, without budging, for eleven
weeks.
[32]
T-4 Draper visits Patelin
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Draper \jtaring open-mouthed~\
Who 's this ?
Guillemette [whispering in the Draper's ear]
Excuse me : I dare not raise my voice. I be-
lieve he is resting. He is a little drowsy. Alas I
he *s so done up, poor man !
The Draper [in amazement]
Who?
Guillemette
Master Pierre.
Draper [indignantly]
Whew ! And did n't he come to purchase six
ells of cloth, right now ?
Guillemette
Who? He?
The Draper
He came from my shop not half a quarter of an
hour ago. Hurry ! I am wasting time. Come !
No more fooling ! My money !
Guillemette
Oh, no joking! This is no time for jokes.
^he Draper [waving his arms]
Here ! My money ! Are you crazy ? I want
nine francs.
[ 34 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELINT
Guillemette
Oh Guillaume ! It 's no time for gammon, nor
for making light of us. Go along and trifle with
your simpletons, if you 're out for a lark.
Draper [angrily]
I '11 have nine francs, or I '11 be damned !
Guillemette [trying to keep from laughing, while she
wipes away imaginary tears]
Oh dear ! sir, not everybody is so fond of laugh-
ter and clap-trap as you are.
Draper [beseechingly]
I say ; please, np kidding ; do fetch me Master
Pierre.
Guillemette
Bad luck to you ! What ? To-day ?
Draper [gesticulating angrily]
Is n't this place, here, where I am, in the house
of Master Pierre Patelin ?
Guillemette
Yes ! And may they stick you into bedlam 1
[crossing herself] but not me ! Sh !
[35]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Draper
The devil and all ! \Waxing sarcastic!] Have
I no right to ask ?
Guillemette \crossing herself again, as if the devil
might really appear ; then laying her fingers on
her lips and glancing mysteriously toward Pate-
Ms hiding-place']
God bless my soul ! Sh ! Lower, if you wish
him to stay asleep !
Draper \jvery satirical^
Lower ? How c lower * ? Shall I whisper it
down in your ear ? at the bottom of the well ? or
of the cellar?
Guillemette
My goodness ! What a babbler you are ! Any-
how, that is always the way with you.
Draper \in petulant protestation]
Damn it all ! Now, let me tell you, if you ex-
pect me to whisper .... [Angrily."] Say now ! As
for such wrangling, I 'm not used to it. {Bearing
on each word!] The truth is that Master Pierre
took six ells of cloth to-day.
Guillemette \shrilly\
Huh? Oh, come! To-day? Well, I never!
[ 36 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Look here, now ! Took what ? . . . Hang me,
if it is n't the sober truth ! He is in such a plight,
poor man, that he has n't left his bed for eleven
weeks I believe you are making sport of us.
Now, is there any reason in it ? Law now ! you
clear out of my house ! \Wringing her bands.] Oh
dear ! oh dear !
^be Draper
You were telling me to speak so low ! Holy
Mother ! you are shrieking !
Guillemette [almost in a whisper\
Upon my soul, it is you who are making all the
noise !
tfhe Draper
Look here ! I must be off. Hand over . . .
Guillemette {forgetting herself and letting her voice
rise to a high key]
Sh ! Speak low, will you !
Draper
But it 's you who '11 rouse him ! Great guns !
You talk ten times louder than I do ! [Emphatic-
ally."] I want you to let me go.
Guillemette
Eh ? What is this ? Are you cracked ? or have
you been drinking? In heaven's name !
C 37 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Draper
Drinking ? My word ! There 's a pretty ques-
tion !
Gmllemette
Oh dear ! Speak lower !
The Draper [meekly"]
I ask payment for six ells of cloth, lady, for
pity's sake.
Gmllemette
It's all in'ycmr eye ! And who did you give it
to?
Draper
To himself.
Gmllemette
Fine trim he 's in for buying cloth ! Alas ! he
can't budge [begins to sob ; the Draper thinks bard. ]
He 's in no need of clothes ; never more will he
be drest in any garment but a white one, nor leave
the spot where he is lying, unless he goes feet first
Draper
This must have happened since sunrise, then ;
for I 'm sure I talked with him,
Gmllemette \Jtopping her ears]
Your voice is so shrill ! Be quiet, for pity's sake !
[38]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Draper [in a perfect tantrum\
It 's you, upon my oath ! It 's you ! Oh, damn
it ! OcTs blood ! this is torment. If some one
paid me, I would go my way. Afore Heaven !
whenever I have trusted, this is what I *ve always
got for it.
SCENE Fill
PATELIN, GUILLEMETTE, THE DRAPER
Patelin [as if he had just awakened~\
Guillemette ! A little rosewater ! Prop me up !
Tuck me in behind ! Pah ! No one 's listening.
The ewer ! A drink ! Rub the soles of my feet !
Draper
I hear him there.
Guillemette
You do.
Patelin \in a nightcap ; peers out between the cur-
tains and shouts to Guillemeite~\
Ha, wretch ! come here ! Who told you to open
those windows ? Come, cover me ! Drive these
[39]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
black men away ! Marmara, carimari, carimara !
Away with them ! away !
Guillemette \Jo Patelin\
What J s this ? How you behave ! Are you
beside yourself?
Pat elm [slowly getting out of bed and pointing, as
he does so, toward the rafters. 1*0 the Draper]
Thou canst not see what I perceive. There
is a black monk., f 1 y i n g. Catch him ! Give him
a stole ! [Approaching the Draper ', who retreats
backward, he spits like a cat y turning his fingers into
claws and striking as if he were going to scratch the
Draper's eyes outJ] The cat ! the cat ! \jPointing,
and seeming to follow the flight of the imaginary
monkJ] Up, up, he goes !
Guillemette
Oh what is this ? Ain't you ashamed ! La ! this
turmoil has upset him.
Patelin [returns to bed and falls back on his pillow y
exhausted* To Guillemette^ who is bending over him~\
Those physicians have killed me with these
hotchpotches they have made me drink. And yet,
to believe them, it's as simple as moulding wax.
[40]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Guilkmette [to the Draper]
Oh ! Have a look at him, sir : he *s such a
sufferer.
jT#<? Draper
You don't mean to say he 's fallen sick since
just now, when he came from market?
Guillemette
From market?
Draper
* Aye. By Saint John, I think he was there. [70
Patelin.~\ 1 want my money for the cloth I lent you,
Master Pierre.
Patelin [pretending to take the Draper for a
physician^
Ho, Doctor John ! harder than stone : I have
.... two small lumps, black, round as balls.
Shall I take another clyster ?
The Draper
Huh ? How do I know ? What business is it
of mine ? It J s nine francs I want, or six crowns.
Patelin
These three black little pointed things, I be-
lieve you call 'em c pills.' They have spoilt my
MASTER. PIERRE PATELIN
jaws. For heaven's sake. Doctor John, no more
of 'them 1 Pah ! there is nothing so bitter !
They Ve made me let go of everything.
The Draper
They have not ! by my father's soul ! You
have n't let go of my nine francs.
Guillemette [half a$idi\
Hang them! these folks who are always med-
dling. [ c Shooing ' the indignant but helpless Draper. J
Away with you, by all the devils ! as God has
nothing to do with it.
The Draper
By the Lord who made me, I will have my cloth
before I finish, or my nine francs !
Patelin \to the Draper,, still pretending to take him
for c Doctor John ']
And my water, does it show, perchance, that
I am dying? [To Guillemettel\ Alas, although
he stays, let me not die !
Guillemette \to the Draper]
Begone ! Is n't it wicked to be splitting his ears
with your din ?
[42 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Draper \jhrowing up both hands\
May heaven rue the day it runs foul of him !
[70 Patelin.~\ Six ells of cloth ! Come, now ! upon
your honour, is it fair for me to lose them ?
Patelin
Had you only been able to thin my .... Doctor
John ; it 's so hard when it comes out at my ....
, . . . that I don't know how I keep on living.
The Draper \_shaking his Jisi]
I want nine francs in full, I say, or by Saint
Peter . . .
Guillemette
Dear me ! how you plague the man ! How can
you be so boisterous? You see clearly that he
takes you for a physician. Alas ! the poor Chris-
tian has had ill luck enough. Eleven weeks
without a break he *s been lying there, poor soul !
\_Clasps her hands and looks like the most dismal hypo-
crite ; Pwtelin rolls over, with a groan.~\
Draper [half to him self ~\
Od's blood ! I can't imagine how this mishap
could have befallen him ; for he came this very day
and we struck a bargain, at least, it seemed to
happen so, if I 'm not mistaken.
[43]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Guillemette
My good sir, there 's something amiss with your
memory. Really, I think you had better go and
rest a little ; for lots of folks might gossip that you
come in here on my account. Go away ! The phy-
sicians will be on hand presently,, and I would n't
have any one suspect some impropriety : I 'm not
that sort.
Draper
Oh, curse it all ! So this is the fix I 'm in.
\_Mopping his brow^\ I '11 be bound ! I was still
thinking . . , You have no goose on the fire ?
Guillemette
Hark what he asks ! Why, sir, that 's no food
for sick folks. Eat your own geese, and don't come
here to play your monkey tricks. I must say, you
make yourself very much at home.
The Draper
Please don't take it amiss, for I verily believed
. . . [T0 himself."] Still ... by the sacrament . . .
Pshaw ! now I am going to find out ! \_Walks away
slowly, muttering as he goesJ] I know full well that
I ought to have six ells, all in one piece ; but that
woman has clean upset my wits. He took them ;
no doubt of it ! [After reflection^ Nay, he did not.
[44]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The devil ! it will not tally ! I saw him in Death's
clutch or at least he 's shamming death. [Ponders
again. ~] Aye, by 'r Lady, he did ! There is no
doubt of it ; he took them and stowed them away
beneath his elbow ! [After more reflection^] No,
he did not! It may be I am dreaming; yet,
whether I be asleep or awake, it is not like me to
give my goods to any man, however friendly he
may be with me. I would not have trusted any
one. [Angrily* .] Od's bod ! he took them ! and by
the death . . . [Reflecting."] Nay, I have it! He
did not ! . . Yet what am I coming to? [Emphat-
ically."] He has them ! [After a slight pause he
waves his arms desperately and bursts outl\ May a
pox take both his body and his soul if I know who
has got the best or the worst of it, they or myself!
I 'm all at sea.
SCENE IX
PATELIN, GUILLEMETTE
Pat elm [still in bed; low to Guillemette"]
Is he gone ?
Guillemette [at the door]
Be still ! I 'm listening. He is humming some
[45]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
little tune or other under his breath. By the way
he mutters, one might suppose he was losing his
mind.
Patelin
Have n't I lain here long enough ? [After a
pause.'] He dropped in so punctually !
Gulllemette [still listening]
Maybe he will return. [Patelin starts to rise.']
Nay ! Heaven forbid ! Lie still a while. It would
be all up with us if he found you out of bed.
Patelin
He met his match, the distrustful skinflint!
Served him right !
Guilkmette [leaving her post]
Of all the rank hucksters that ever were baited
he is the gem ! Oh, this is what he gets for un-
godly stinginess. [She titters loudly. ~]
Patelin
For heaven's sake, stop laughing ! If he came
back he might play the mischief, and, let me tell
you, we have n't seen the last of him.
Guillemette
I declare ! Let anybody who can, keep from
laughing ; I can't help it ! [Laughs uproariously.']
[46]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
SCENE X
(At the Draper's shop)
Draper
By the holy light that shines ! For all the bab-
blers, that freshwater barrister shall see me again.
Pooh ! That income some of his cousins or his
aunts were going to furnish him ! A likely yarn !
Now, by Saint Peter, he has my cloth, the false
swindler ! I gave it him right here. [Starts for
Pateliris in a fury ^\
SCENE XI
(At Patetin's)
PATELIN, GUILLEMETTE
Guillemette
When I think of the face he made as he looked
at you . . [Laughs.'] He dunned so fiercely !
\JLaughs again."]
Patelin
Quit your cackling ! God [crosses Mm-
[47]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
self"] . . . bless my soul, if some one should over-
hear you we might as well decamp : he 's such a
crusty customer.
SCENE XII
(Mostly in the market-place)
Draper [with bitter scorn]
Ha! a boozing pettifogger! [Sneering."] A quack
who knows but three lessons and three psalms !
[Ironically.] The rest of us are brainless clowns,
forsooth ! By gad., no one was ever fitter to be
hanged ! He has my cloth,, or I '11 be damned, and
he has tricked me with this game ! [Rapping angrily
at Patelin's doorJ] Ho, there ! mis'ess : where are
you hiding?
SCENE XIII
(At Patelins)
THE DRAPER, GUILLEMETTE, PATELIN
Guillemette
My word ! he 's heard me ! [Looking through tht
key hole. ~] He seems to be going mad.
[48]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIK
Patelin [in bed; draws the curtains together^
I '11 make believe I 'm delirious. Let him in.
Guillemette [opening the door and trying to look
serious\
How you yell !
The Draper [entering noisily^
Ah ha! you are laughing, eh? Here! My
money !
Guillemette
My stars ! What do you think I Ve got to
laugh about? There isn't an unhappier creature
under the sun. He is passing away. Never did
you hear such a storming, nor frenzy. His mind
is still astray; he raves, he sings, and then he
babbles and mutters in so many languages ! He
will not live half an hour. Upon my soul, I laugh
and weep in the same breath.
The Draper
I know nothing about your laughter or your
weeping. To cut it short, I must be paid !
Guillemette
For what ? Are you daft ? Are you beginning
to rant again ?
[49]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Draper [haughtily]
I am not wont to be thus spoken to when I am
selling my cloth. Would you have me believe the
moon is made of green cheese?
Patelin [standing on his bed, with his head between
the curtains']
Now then ! the Queen of the Citterns ! Quick !
Fetch her here ! I know well she has given birth
to four and twenty gitternkins by the abbot of
Ivernaux : I must stand godfather for him.
Guillemette
Alas ! Think about God the Father, my dear,
not about gitterns or gitternkins.
tfhe Draper \_aside\
Ha ! What a pair of humbugs ! [Exploding^]
Quick now ! Plank down hard cash for the cloth
you got of me,
Guillemette
La ! If you made one mistake, are n't you sat-
isfied ?
Draper \_app ealingly]
Do you know how it is, dear friend ? So help
me God ! I 'm not aware of a mistake . . . [In-
[50]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
dignantly."] Come now ! Shell out> or be hanged !
\W r hining^\ How do I wrong you if I come here
to ask for what is mine ? For by Saint Peter . . .
Guillemette
Alas ! How you rack the man ! [Inspired^] I
see by your looks that you are not sound. [Scan-
ning him closely. "\ As sure as I am a sinner, if I had
help "I 'd tie you fast, for you Ve gone stark mad.
Draper {desperately}
Oh dear, oh dear ! I am beside myself at not
getting my money.
Guillemette
Oh what witless talk! Cross yourself! Bene-
dicite ! [Insisting."] Make the sign of the cross !
*tbe Draper
Damn me if ever I trust anybody with . . .
\he begins to speak brokenly, hearing noises from the
bed) where Pat din is about to have a fresh frenzy]
. . . cloth . . . this . . . year . . . Godamercy !
What an invalid !
Patelin [leaping down from his bed and striding
about y performing^ meanwhile y various antics
which the Draper observes with amazement]
Mere de diou> la coronade, par fye, y m'en
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
voul anar. Or renague biou, outre mar. Ventre
de diou ! zendict gigone, castuy carible et res
ne done. Ne carillaine, fuy ta none, que de
1' argent 11 ne me sone ! If it 's ducats, mum is the
word. [T0 the Draperl\ Have you understood,
fair coz ?
Guillemette [to the Draper]
He once had an uncle near Limoges, a brother
of his aunt-in-law. That, I take it, is why he
jabbers in the gibberish of Limousin.
'The Draper
Out on you ! He stole away with my cloth
under his arm-pit.
Patelin [taking Guillemette by the hand and starting
to lead her away in princely fashion^
Venez ens, doulce damiselle. [Pointing to the
Draper^] Toadspawn ! what 's it after ? [Haughtily
commanding the Draper to draw backl\ Avaunt,
scullion, avaunt ! \While the Draper stares^ Patelin
strides across the room, snatches up an old gown of
Guillemette' 's, and in very short order gets himself up
as a priest ; he then addresses his bewildered visitor
in exclamative or questioning tones.~\ Hither ! Has-
ten ! Devil, come en chelle vielle monkery. Heh !
fault il que ly prestre rie, quant il deust canter se
messe ?
[ 52 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Guillemette
Alas ! alas ! it will soon be time to give him the
extreme unction.
'The Draper
But how does he happen actually to speak the
Picard tongue ? Whence comes this foolishness ?
Guillemette
His mother was raised in Picardy ; so he speaks
Picard now.
Patelin \_going toward the Draper]
Whence comest thou, merry reveler ? Wacarme !
liefve godeman. Henriey, Henriey, conselapen.
[Fakes the Draper's hands and goes dancing about
the room, singingl\ Grile, grile, scohehonden,
zilop, zilop, en mon que bonden, Disticlien
unen desen versen, mat groet festal ou truit
den hersen. [As he gives the astounded Draper a
final twirl, Patelin trips himself \ falls, and lies on
his back with only enough strength left to gasp, but
in this posture he soon gets breath to continue his
linguistic antics."] Vuste vuille pour le frimas !
[Kneels as if at a confessionalJ\ Faictes venir sire
Thomas tantost qui me confessera!
The Draper
What is this ? He will keep on all day talking
[53]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
foreign languages. If he would only give me
a security, or my money,, I would go.
Guillemette
Bless my soul ! . . . Oh, dear me ! You are so
outlandish. What will you have ? How you can
be so stubborn passes my understanding.
Patelin [to the Draper}
Or cha 3 Renouart au Tine ! Be dea, que ma
couille est pelouse ! [The Draper , determined to get
his money by hook or by crook, takes hold of Patelin's
gown and gives it a pulL~\ Les playes dieu ! qu'esse
qui s'attaque a men coul ? Esse une vaque ?
unemousque? ou ung escarbot? [The Draper
retreats, Patelin crouches behind a chair ^ with only
his head visible^ Be dea ! j'e le mau saint Garbot !
Suis je des foyreux de Baieux?
The Draper
How can he stand the strain of so much talking ?
\JVitnessing fresh antics. ~\ Ho ! he is losing his
wits ! But how does he come to speak Norman ?
Guillemette
His schoolmaster was a Norman; so in his
last hour the memory of it comes back to him.
[Further capers by Pat elm."] He is giving up the
ghost !
[54]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Draper \in dismay]
Thunderation ! This is the worst raving that
ever I ran foul of. \jTo Guillemette] I never should
have thought he was not this day at market !
Guillemette [astonished]
You thought so ?
Draper
Yes, hanged if I did n't ; but I see that is n't
what happened, at all.
Patelin \listening, as if he beard some noise in the
streef\
Sont il ung asne que j'os braire ? [Sputtering,
as if another frenzy were coming on] Ha oul dan-
daoul en ravezeie Orf ha en euf. [Behind a chair
Patelin changes his costume so as to resemble an old
hag. Meanwhile Guillemette and the Draper, cling-
ing to each other, await the next occurrence with a
horror in one case shammed, in the other real. Hear-
ing a weird sound from behind the chair, Guillemette
cries out, with clasped hands.]
Guillemette
God help you !
[55]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin [picks up a broom^ and with the handle makes
cabalistic figures on the floor > draws a circle
round the Draper; then sits astride his broom
and goes prancing off like a witch, continuing his
mutterings\
Huls oz bezou drone nos badou Digaut an
tan en hoi madou Maz rehet crux dan holcon
So ol oz merveil il grant nacon Aluzen archet
epysy JJar cals amour ha coureisy.
The Draper
Alas ! Blest Heaven ! Hearken to it ! He is
sinking. How he gurgles ! [To Guillemette.~\ But
what is he sputtering about? How he mutters !
Od's bodykin ! he mumbles so I cannot catch a
word of it. This is not Christian, or any other
tongue, apparently.
Guillemette
It 's Breton. His grandmother on his father's
side came from Brittany. {Patelin shows signs ofex-
haustionl\ He is dying ! This shows that he needs
his last sacraments.
Patelin [still astride the broom ; to the ~Drafer\
He par Gigon, tu te mens. Vualx te deu,
couille de Lorraine ! [Starts to explain the cabalistic
figures to the Draper, who retreats in alarm. Pate-
[ 56]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Un pur sues him, whacking the floor and furniture with
his broom. Finally y as the Draper, breathless, takes
refuge behind a chair, Patelin addresses him in Latin."]
Et bona dies sit vobis, magister amantissime,
pater reverendissime, quomodo brulis ? que
nova ? Parisius non sunt ova ! Quid petit ille
mercator ? Dicat sibi quod trufator, ille qui in
lecto jacet, vult ei dare, si placet, de oca ad
comedendum . [Falls on the floor, ^he Draper, who
has regained some of his courage, helps Guillemette to
put Patelin to bed, bolstering him up with pillows.
Patelin continues to mutter. "\
Guillemette
Upon my word, he will die a-talking! How he
froths ! \*To the Draper ^\ Do you not mark how
he is steaming? [Casting her eyes aloft, ,] Now his
human part is going to its heavenly home. \Hiding
her face in her hands J\ Now I shall be left alone,
poor and forlorn.
Draper [aside]
It were well for me to go away before he breathes
his last. [70 Guillemette.'] I fear he might be loth,
at his decease, to tell you any secrets in my pre-
sence, though he would in privacy. Pardon ; for
I take my oath I thought he had got my cloth.
Good bye, ma'am ; may God forgive rne !
[57]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Guillemette [showing him out]
Heaven bless you and his poor mournful
wife !
SCENE XIV '
(In tbe street]
The Draper
By all the saints ! I 'm flummuxed worse than
ever. \After a short pause."] The Devil, in his
stead^ took my cloth to tempt me ! Benedicite !
[Crosses himself. ] May he leave me in peace ! And
since the case so stands., I give the cloth in God's
name to whosoever took it. [Reenters his shop."]
SCENE XV
(At Pateliris}
PATELIN, GUILLEMETTE
Patelin [jumping out of bed and waving his hand
after the departing Draper]
Go along with you ! [jTo Guillemette] How do
you like me for a teacher? [Peeping into the street."]
[58]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Crackbrained Neddie is making for home. [Taps
his head significantly. ~\ Heavens ! he has plenty of
rooms to let ! ... At night, when he 's in bed, he is
likely to see spooks.
Guillemette
How he was bamboozled! And didn't I do my
part well ?
Patelin
Od's bodykin ! You 're an angel ! We Ve got
cloth enough, I think, to have some clothes ! \With
this y Patelin fulls the stolen cloth from the bed, where
It has lain hidden^ wraps one end round his body and
flings the whole strip so that it lies unfolded when it
reaches Guillemette' s feet. She grasps her end and
whirls so that she and Patelin are close together
when the curtain falls. ~\
SCENE
(At the Draper's shop]
THE DRAPER
Later y TIBALT LAMBKIN, a Shepherd
T^he Draper
That 's the way ! Everybody stuffs me with
lies. Everybody carries off my goods, and takes
[59]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
what he can get. Of all unlucky men I am the
king. The very shepherds cheat me; but mine,
whom I have always treated kindly,, shall be sorry
for flouting me ! By the blessed Virgin, he shall
smart for it !
Shepherd \jzppearing unexpectedly from the left
of the market-place; on being seen by his master,
he removes his cap and bows ; then begins to speak
with the thick dull drawl of a born yokeT\
God give you a good day, sweet master, and
a good evening !
<Tbe Draper
Oho ! So it 's thou, foul churl. A good fellow
thou art; aye, good for the gallows !
Shepherd [resting his crook on the ground and
stopping? about five feet from the Draper~\
I ax your pardon, master, but some one or other
in striped hosen, which were right disorderly, and
he had a rod in his hand, yet no lash on it, said
to me, says he . . yet I remember not at all well
what it may be, to tell the truth. He spoke to
me of you, master, and of some summons or other.
As for me, holy mother ! much I know what it 's
all about. He muddled me a-talking about ewes
and court in the afternoon. And he raised a great
hullaballoo for you, master . . .
[60]
dfafaifj mci) poifcmoij auoit;
u
mccafiufent oteefetniet)
jttquiiaj>touftO!tt6fiittS
if nema pas pour Bteij p60?
? Shepherd comes to explain
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Draper [shaking his fist in the face of Lamb-
kin, who cowers against the wall"]
If I do not have thee hauled forthwith before
the judge, may I be drowned and blasted ! Never
shalt thou kill one beast, by my oath, but thou
remember it ! Anyhow, thou shalt pay me for the
six ells .... I mean for slaughtering my sheep,
and the havoc thou hast wrought me these ten
years past.
The Shepherd
Don't believe the slanderers, my good master ;
for, upon my soul . . .
The Draper
And by Gog's bones, before Saturday thou shalt
give me back my six ells of wool . . I mean what
was taken from my sheep.
The Shepherd
What wool ? Ah ! master, I believe you are
angry over some other thing. By Saint Lupus!
master, I fear to speak when I look at you.
The Draper
Leave me in peace ! Out of my sight ! if thou
art wise. And thou hadst better be on hand.
[62]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Shepherd
Master, let us agree. For God's sake, don't go
to law about it.
fbe Draper [waving him of]
Begone ! Thy business is in a pretty pass !
[ Telling and shaking his fist in Lambkin s face."]
Begone ! I say. I '11 make no agreement., nor set-
tle anything, save as the judge shall do. [He drives
the Shepherd out."] Yah ! Unless I 'm wary, every
one will be swindling me from now on !
The Shepherd
God be wi* you, sir, and give you joy ! [Cross-
ing the market-place ; to himself."] So I must de-
fend myself. [Knocks at Patelin's door.~] Is any one
within ?
SCENE XVII
PATELIN, GUILLEMETTE
Later, THE SHEPHERD
Patelin
Hang me, if he is n't coming back !
Guillemette
Nay, he is not ; mercy on me ! that would be
the very worst.
[63]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Shepherd [_as Patelin comes ouf\
God be with you ! God bless you !
Patelin
God keep thee ! What wilt thou, my good
fellow?
^he Shepherd
They will fine me for default unless I appear for
trial. And, if you like, you will come, sweet mas-
ter, and defend me ; for I know nothing. And I
will pay you well, even though I be ill clad.
Patelin
Come hither, now. Speak up ! Which art thou ?
plaintiff? or defendant ?
f&e Shepherd
I have business with a dealer do you under-
stand, sweet master? whose ewes I have for a
great while led to pasture and watched for him.
Now, sir, upon my word, I saw he paid me scantly.
. . Shall I tell everything?
Patelin
To be sure ! A client should hide nothing from
his counsel.
The Shepherd
It is true, sir, beyond denial, that I basted 'em
[64]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
on the skull for him, so that time and again they
went into a swoon and fell dead ; no matter how
strong and sound they were. And then, lest he
should lay it to me, I gave him to understand that
they died of the scab. c Ho ! ' quoth he, c take the
f scabby one away from the others ; off with her ! '
c Right willingly ! ' quoth I ; [leering] but that was
done otherwise ; for, by Saint John ! I ate them,
knowing well what they wanted. Well, sir, this
went on so long, and I slaughtered so many, that
he found it out. And when he saw he was being
deceived, God help me! he set somebody to
spy; for they hear them bleat very loud, you
understand, when it 's going on. So I have been
caught red-handed ; I can never deny it. Now I
beseech you for my part I have money enough
that we two steal a march on him. I know well
he has the law on his side, but you will find some
loophole, if you try, so as to give him the worst
of it.
Patelin
By your faith, shall you be glad ? \Winsomely '.]
What will you give me if I upset the plaintiff's
case, and you are acquitted ?
Shepherd
I will pay you not in copper, but in fine gold
crowns.
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin
Then your case shall be a good one. And were
it twice as bad, so much the better ! and the sooner
I shall do for him ! As I am going to apply my
wisdom, how you shall hear me spout, when he
has set forth his suit ! Come hither ! By the holy
precious blood ! Art thou crafty enough to under-
stand a trick ? What is thy name ?
Vbe Shepherd
By Saint Maurus ! it is Tibalt Lambkin.
Patelin \Jocularly\
Lambkin, hast thou filched many a sucking lamb
from thy master ?
3*be Shepherd
My word ! it is quite likely I have eaten above
thirty in three years.
Patelin
Ten yearly to pay for dice and candles. \_AsideI\
I believe I shall let him have it fair ! \_Aloud^\ Dost
think he can find any one forthwith to prove his
facts ? That is what the case hinges on.
The Shepherd
Prove, sir ? Blessed Mary ! By all the saints
in Paradise ! instead of o n e he '11 have a dozen
witnesses against me !
[66]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin
That 's a bad feature In thy case. [Slight pause."]
Here is what I had in mind. I '11 feign to know
naught of thee, that I never laid eyes on thee before.
tfhe Shepherd [in dismay]^
Lord, no ! not that !
Patelin
No, then I won't. But here is what you must
do. If you talk, they will trap you every time, and
in such cases confessions are most prejudicial, and
so harmful that it 's the devil and all. Here is the
trick ! As soon as they call on you for trial, an-
swer nothing but ba-a-a [mimicking a sheep's bleaf\ ,
whatever they say to you. And if they happen to
curse you, saying, c Ha, stinking fool ! a pox on
thee, villain ! Art thou flouting the court ? ' go
ba-a. c Oh ! ' I '11 say, c he is half-witted ; he thinks
he is talking to his sheep 1 ' But even if they split
their heads with roaring, not another word ! Be-
ware!
The Shepherd
I take it to heart, and truly I will be wary, and
I will do it properly, I promise and affirm.
Patelin
Now heed ! No flinching ! And whatever I say
or do, give me no other answer.
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Shepherd
I ? By my sacrament ! call me a fool outright
If I utter to-day another word, to you or to any
one, whatsoever they say to me, but only 2>a-a 3 as
you have taught me.
Patettn
By Saint John ! There is the prank to outwit
your adversary ! [In a tone between wheedling
and threat."] But when it is done, pay me a right
good fee.
^he Shepherd
Master, If I do not pay as agreed, never trust
me. But I pray, look carefully to my business.
Patettn
By'r Lady of Boulogne, the Judge must be
holding court ; for he always is on hand by six
o'clock, or thereabouts. Now come along with
me, but we will not take the same road,
The Shepherd
Quite so ! [shrewdly] they must n't see that
you 're my lawyer.
Patelin [threateningly]
By 'r Lady ! Mind your eye, if you don't pay
generously !
[68]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Shepherd
Why ! as agreed, sir ; do not doubt it. [Sets
out.']
Patelin [alone]
Oh, well, half a loaf is better than no loaf at
all. I shall hook a minnow, anyhow ; and if he is
lucky, he will give me a crown or so for my pains.
[Follows the Shepherd into the market-place.~\
SCENE XVIII
(In the market-place)
(Enter Judge ', followed by a clerk, a score of archer s,
bailiffs , and loiter ers^ 'who range themselves to the
right and left of the market-cross^ so as to leave
an open space before the Judge's seat. The Judge
sits down and surveys the crowd}
THE JUDGE, PATELIN, THE SHEPHERD, then THE
DRAPER
Patelin Removes his hat ; to the Judge\
God bless you, sir, and grant you your heart's
desire !
tfhe Judge
Welcome, sir ! But cover yourself. There !
Take a seat
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin [hiding in the crowd^ to avoid being seen by
the Draper, whose breathless approach brings
to him the sudden realisation that the Shepherd's
adversary is the very person whom he has him-
self beguiled"]
Oh, I am all right, sir, if you please ; there 's
more room here.
The Judge [brusquely]
If there is business, have done with it, in order
that the court may adjourn.
The Draper [arrives much flurried^ just as the Judge
has spoken]
My lawyer is coming, your Worship. He is
finishing a little work that he was at, and it would
be kind of you to wait for him.
The Judge \Jestily]
Come, come ! I have business elsewhere. If
the offending party is here., set forth your case at
once. Are you not the plaintiff?
The Draper
I am.
The Judge [casting his eyes about]
Where is the defendant? Is he present in per-
son ?
$e8eaie aiffeucea enfenSre
fcSoffreattieefjeenfe
rtrtfffeeSouepaeSetnanSeuc
leSwppiei:
ifufe
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Draper [pointing at the Shepherd^
Yes, there he is, keeping mum ; but God knows
he has something to think about.
fbe Judge \Jo the Draper]
Since you are both here, make known your
suit.
Draper
This, then, is what I am bringing an action
against him for. Your Worship, the truth is that
for the love of God, and out of charity, I reared
him in his childhood ; and when I saw that he
was strong enough to work in the fields, to cut
it short, I made him my shepherd and set him to
watching my flock ; but as true as you are sitting
there, your Worship, he has wrought such havoc
among my ewes and wethers that, no mistaking,
he ...
Judge \officious\
Now listen ! Was n't he in your hire ?
Patelin {breaking in> ostensibly to show that the
Judge has made a good poini\
Aye, that 's it ! For had he kept him for pure
sport, without hire . . .
c 7*]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Draper [recognising Pate/in, who hides his face
behind his hand~\
The devil get me ! If it 's not you, and no
mistake !
The Judge [to Patelin]
How is this ? You are holding your hand up.
Have you a toothache. Master Pierre ?
Patelin \wincing~]
Yes, my teeth are raising such a row that I
never felt worse pains. I daren't lift my head.
[Waving one hand.'] For God's sake, make him
proceed !
Tbe Judge [to the Draper]
Go on. Finish your charge. Come ! Conclude
promptly.
The Draper [aside, and staring at Patelin]
By the holy rood, 7 t is he and no other ! [To
Patelin^] It was you I sold six ells of cloth to,
Master Pierre !
The Judge [to Patelin]
What is he saying about cloth . ?
Patelin [to the Judge]
He's rambling. He means to come to the
[ 73]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
point, but he can't find his way to it, for he lacks
the training.
'The Draper {half choked with indignation]
Hang me if anybody else took my cloth, by
the bloody throat !
Patelin [to the Judge]
How the wretched man lugs his inventions in
to make out a case ! The pig-headed fellow
means, of course, that his shepherd had sold the
wool that went into the cloth that made my gar-
ment, by saying that he is robbing him, and that
he stole the wool of his sheep.
Tbe Draper [to Patelin]
Damn me, if you have n't it !
The Judge [to the Draper]
In the devil's name, be still ! You are twaddling.
Can you not return to the subject, without delay-
ing the court by such drivel ?
Patelin [with one hand still on bis jaw]
My teeth ache so ; yet I must laugh ! [Looking
toward the Draper^] He 's already in such haste
that he does n't know where he left off. We must
set him right again.
[ 74]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Judge [to the Draper]
Come ! Let 's stick to those sheep ! What hap-
pened ?
Draper \is about to return to his sheep, when
Patelin^ by stepping in front of him, diverts his
attention; whereupon he shakes his fist at
Patelin and at the same time appeals to the
He took six ells, worth nine francs !
The Judge [bawling]
Are we greenhorns ? or tomfools ? Where do
you think you are ?
Patelin \to the Judge]
Od's blood ! He takes us for ganders, I sup-
pose ! Oh, he looks so very good ! but let me
advise that his opponent be examined a bit.
The Judge \fsgaining his composure^
Very true ! He is familiar with the man ; he
must needs know him. [To the Shepherd."] Step
forward. Speak.
The Shepherd \shambling forward and looking very
duir\
Ba-a !
[75]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Judge
Hoity-toity I Here 's a mess ! What is this
ba-a ? Am I a goat ? Speak to me !
The Shepherd
Ba-a I
Judge
A murrain on you ! Ha! Are you flouting us?
Patelin [to the Judge]
Believe me, he is crazy, or stupid, or he fancies
he *s among his sheep.
T&e Draper [wildly, to Patelin]
Damn me if you are not the very man that took
it, my cloth, I mean, [fo the Judge."] Oh, you
can't imagine, sir, by what deceit . . .
Judge [threatening]
Hold your tongue ! Are you an idiot ? Leave
that matter alone, and let J s come to the point !
Draper
True, your Worship ; but the circumstance
concerns me ; yet on my faith I '11 not utter an-
other word about it. Another time it may be dif-
ferent* I shall have to swallow it whole. Well,
as I was saying, I gave six ells [the Judge starts
[76]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
uf\ ... I mean, my sheep . . . pray, sir, forgive
me . . . this nice master [Pierre] . . . my shepherd,
when he ought to have been in the fields . . ,
[Shaking his fist at Pat elm and appealing frantically
to the Judge]. He told me I should have six
/ O Jl
crowns in gold, as soon as I came . . . [as the
Judge threatens] ... I mean, three years ago my
shepherd gave me his word that he would watch
over my flock loyally and do me no damage to it,
nor any villainy, and then . . . [seeing Patelin]
now he denies me outright both cloth and money.
[_To Patelin]. Oh, Master Pierre, truly .. [Catches
a warning frown from the Judge.~\ That scoun-
drel robbed me of the wool of my sheep ; and
healthy though they were, he killed them, and
made them die by pounding out their brains . .
[Again Patelin distracts his attention."] When he
had tucked my cloth under his arm-pit he hurried
off, saying I should go and get six gold crowns at
his house.
The Judge
There is neither rime nor reason in all your
railing. What does it mean? Now you interlard
one thing, now another. In short, fore God, I can
make neither head nor tail of it. [ 5T0 PatelinJ] He
muddles something about cloth and prattles next
of sheep, helter skelter. What can he be driving
at?
[77]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin
Now, I undertake that he is keeping back the
poor shepherd's wage.
The Draper [to Patelin\
By heaven, you might hold your tongue ! My
cloth . . as true as gospel . . I know where my
shoe pinches better than you or any one. Od's
bones, you have it !
Judge [to the Draper]
What has he ?
Draper
Nothing, sir. \_Again bursts out^\ Upon my
oath, he is the greatest swindler . . [T'be Judge
threatens^] Oh, I '11 be silent about it, if I can,
and not speak of it again, whatever happens.
The Judge
No ! But remember ! Now finish speedily.
Pat elm \to the Judge\
This shepherd cannot answer the charge with-
out counsel ; yet he is afraid, or knows not how
to ask for it. If you were willing to order me to
take his case, I would.
[78]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Judge [ironically]
H i s case ? You 'd get cold comfort out of that,
I should imagine. It 's hardly worth while.
Patelin
But, honestly, I don't care to make anything out
of it ; let it be done for charity ! Burning toward
the Shepherd^ Now I 'm going to find out from
the poor lad what he will tell me, and whether,
perchance, he may afford me matter for his defence.
He would have a hard time getting out of it, if
nobody came to his rescue. [To the Shepherdl\
Come hither, my friend. \With an utterly vacant
expression the Shepherd slouches forward a step or
tWQ^ with his crook in one hand, and his cap in the
other I\ If any one could find . . . dost thou
understand ?
The Shepherd
Ba-a !
Patelin \_feigning astonishmenf\
Ba-a ? The devil ! What ba-a ? Zounds ! Art
thou crazy ? Tell me thy business.
The Shepherd
Ba-a-a !
Patelin
How ba-a? Dost thou hear thy ewes a-bleat-
ing ? Mind, it is to thine interest.
[ 79]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
The Shepherd
Ba~a !
Patelin [entreating]
Now speak ! Say yes, and no. \Whi$pering^\
Well done ! Keep it up !
The Shepherd [softly}
Ba~a !
Patelin
Louder, or it may cost thee dear.
The Shepherd [very loud}
Ba-a~a I
Patelin [as y with a despairing gesture^ he appeals to
the Judge}
The maddest man is he who drives such a born
fool into court! Oh, sir! send him back to his
ewes : he is a fool by nature.
The Draper [to Patelin}
A fool, you say ? Saint Saviour of Asturia ! he
has more sense than you !
Patelin [to the Judge}
Send him away to watch over his flocks,
never to return. Cursed be whoever cites such
a lackbrains into court !
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Draper [to the Judge]
And he is to be sent away before I can be heard ?
Patelin \_to the Draper]
So help me ! Yes ; since he 's out of his mind.
Why not ?
The Draper [to the Judge']
Oh now, sir ; at least allow me first to have my
say. What I have to say is no trumpery, nor
scoffing.
The Judge
Vexation is all that comes of having dolts on
trial, either male or female. Listen ! To cut the
matter short, the court will adjourn.
Draper [wistfully]
Shall they go away without ever having to
appear again ?
Judge [_gathering up his robe]
Well, now what . .
Patelin [to the Judge]-
Appear again ! You never saw a madder man,
neither in his acts nor in his answers. [_Pointing to
the Draper^] And he is not a whit better* Both
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
are brainless fools. I'll be blessed! between them
they have n't a pennyweight of brains !
Draper [shaking bis fist at Patelin}
You carried it off by lying, that cloth, I
mean, and without paying for it. Master Pierre.
Fore God, that was the work of no upright man.
Patelin [to the crowd}
Saint Pintle of Rome! If he isn't mad al-
ready, he is going mad.
The Draper [to Patelin}
I know you by your speech, and by your dress.
I am not mad : I am sound enough to know who
does right by me. \o the Judge."} I will tell you
the whole matter, my lord ; upon my word I will !
Patelin [to the Judge}
Oh, sir ! Bid him be still ! [5T0 the Draper^}
Ain't you ashamed to wrangle so with this poor
shepherd over three or four measly sheep not worth
two buttons ! [T0 the crowd.'} He makes more
ado , . .
The Draper [storming and shaking his fists"}
What sheep ? \Witb an expression of weariness
and indignation be gives a couple of turns to an
[82 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
imaginary crank.] A hurdy-gurdy ! Always the
same old tune ! [Shaking bis finger in Patelin' s
face.] It 's to yourself I am talking, to you !
and by all that 's holy you shall give it back
to me !
The Judge
Look you ! I am lucky ! [70 the crowd?] He
will never stop bawling !
Draper [to the Judge]
I ask him . . .
Patelin [to the Judge"}
Make him be still ! [*To the Draper."] Oh good-
ness ! Give that song a rest ! Suppose he has
lammed six or seven, or a dozen, and eaten
them. Hell's bells! That is hard on you! You've
earned more than that while he's been keeping
them.
tfhe Draper [to the Judge"]
Mark, sir ! Mark ! When I talk to him of
cloth, he answers with his shepherd fooleries !
[fo Patelin.'] Six ells of cloth that you put under
your arm-pit and walked off with where are
they ? Do you mean to give them back to me ?
Patelin [to the Judge]
Oh, sir! Would you have him hanged for six
[83]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
or seven sheep ? At least, sir, take time to catch
your breath. Don't be so harsh to a forlorn shep-
herd, who 's as naked as my nail.
The Draper
A pretty way to change the subject ! It was
the devil made me sell cloth to such a customer !
[To the Judge.'} Oh now, your Worship, I ask
him . . .
The Judge [to the Draper]
I acquit him of your charge and forbid you to
proceed. A great honour it is to have a lunatic in
court ! [To the Shepherd."} Away to your beasts !
The Shepherd
Ea-a!
The Judge [to the Draper]
You show well what you are, sir, by 's death !
"The Draper
Oh, my lord, upon my soul, I wish . . .
Patelin [to the bystanders']
Could he stop ?
The Draper [turning upon Patelin]
And my business is with you! You cheated
[84]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
me and carried off my cloth by stealth and with
your smooth talk . , .
Patelin [to the Judge~]
I cross my heart ! Why, do you hear him, sir ?
The Draper [to Patelin]
God help me, you 're the most arrant trick-
ster . . . [To the Judge."] Your Worship, what-
ever they may say . . .
The Judge
You are a pair of idiots, both of you ! It 's
naught but wrangling. [He rises."] Yah ! It is
about time to be leaving. [To the Shepherd."] Get
thee gone, my friend, and never return, whatever
bailiff serves a warrant on thee. The court acquits
thee. Dost thou comprehend ?
Patelin [to the Shepherd"]
Say f I thank you, sir/
The Shepherd
Ba-a!
The Judge [to the Shepherd"]
I mean it. Never mind ! Begone ! [Half to
himself^] It is just as well.
[85]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Draper
Is it fair that he should go away like this ?
Judge [with a snort of disgusf\
Huh ! I have business elsewhere. [Both to
Patelin and to the Draper I\ You are by all odds
too fond of jibes. You shall keep me no longer :
I am going. [T0 Pat elm .] Will you come and sup
with me, Master Pierre ?
Patelin \J>uts bis band over bis mouth and winces,
as if his teeth were still aching]
I cannot.
[Exit Judge, followed by the throng of
archers, bailiffs, loiterers, etcJ\
SCENE XIX
(Still in the market-place)
THE DRAPER, PATELIN, THE SHEPHERD
The Draper [to Patelin]
A downright robber ! that 's what you are ! Say !
Am I going to be paid ?
[ 86 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Pat din
For what? Is your mind wandering ? Why, who
do you think I am ? By rny heel ! I was wondering
who you took me for.
The Draper
Pah!
Pat din
My dear sir, wait a bit. I '11 tell you right now
who you think you take me for. Maybe it 's for
Brainless ? \With one hand Patelin removes bis hat ;
with the other he points to his bald spotJ] Look !
\Depr ecatingly.~\ Nay, nay ! He is n't bald, as I
am, on top of his pate.
The Draper
You mean to take me for a blockhead, eh ? 'T is
you, as sure as I 'm alive, you yourself. Your
voice proves it, and I know it 's so.
Patelin
What ! Me myself? Nay ; truly it is n't. Try
another guess. Might n't it be Jean de Noyon ?
He 's shaped like me.
The Draper
Ugh ! He has no such boozy, sodden face.
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Didn't I leave you sick in bed a short while
since ?
Pat elm
Ho ! There you have it ! Sick ? And with what
malady ? Own up to being a jackanapes, as
clearly enough you are !
The "Draper
It 's you ; by Saint Peter's bones ! You ! and
nobody else ! I know it for a fact.
Patelin
Now, don't you believe anything of the sort !
For it *s not me, at all. I never took an ell, nor
even half an ell, from you. It ? s likely I would
do such a thing !
Draper [looking blanK\
Hm ! I 'm going to have a look at your house,
to see whether you are there. There 's no use in
our worrying our heads about it any longer here,
if I find you there*
Patelin
By'r Lady! Now you have it! That is the
way to find out.
[Exit Draper^
C 88 ]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
SCENE XX
(Near the front of the market-place)
PATELIN, THE SHEPHERD
Patelin
Say, Lambkin !
tfbe Shepherd
Ba-a !
Patelin [beckoning]
Come hither. Come. Was thy business well
done ? [The Shepherd does not move ; Patelin starts
to approach him~\
he Shepherd {edging ojf~\
Ba-a!
Patelin \stops, apprehensive lest Lambkin may take
to flight}
The plaintiff's gone, now. Cease thy ba-a: it's
no longer needed. \Winsomely ^\ Did n't I trounce
him? Didn't I counsel thee just right?
The Shepherd
Ba-a-a !
[89]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Patelin \drawing a step or two closer]
Come, come ! Nobody will overhear you. Speak
right out. You need n't fear.
The Shepherd [looking for an outlet]
Ba-a !
Patelin [firmly]
It is time for me to be going. Pay me !
^Tbe Shepherd [just audibly]
Ba-a!
Patelin [patting the Shepherd, and in a beguiling
tone]
To say truth, you did your part prettily, and
your behaviour was first rate. What left him in the
lurch was the way you kept from laughing.
'The Shepherd [bleating a little louder]
Ba-a-a !
Patelin
Why ba-a? It 's not needed any longer.
[Holds out his hand^] Come ! Pay me well and
nicely.
The Shepherd
Ba-a !
Patelin
Why ba-a ? Talk sensibly, and pay me ; then
I will go my way.
[ 90]
Patettn tries to collect his fee
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Shepherd [still louder]
Ba-a-a !
Patelin
Let me tell you something. Can you guess what
I am going to say ? Please pay me without further
railing. I Ve had enough of your la-a. [Holding
out his hand.'] Pay me> quick !
Shepherd [backs off, with a prolonged Ueaf\
Ea-a-a-a !
Patelin [reproachfully]
Is this mockery ? Is this the most you intend
to do ? [Growing fiercely eager.'] Upon my oath,
you shall pay nie^ unless you can fly ! [Corner-
ing the Shepherd."] Do you understand? Here!
My fee !
The Shepherd
Ba-a !
Patelin
This is a jest ! \Wlth a shade of pathos] What 1
Is this all I am to get?
The Shepherd
Ba-a!
Patelin [half in jest, but persuasively]
You are riming ; but this is prose, Hm ! Is
[92]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN-
there any green in my eye ? Are you aware whom
you are trying to take in ? Babble to me no longer
with your ba-a ! and pay me my fee.
The Shepherd {growing restless]
Ba-a-a !
Patelin Beeping him cornered"^
Is that the only cash I am to get ? With whom
do you fancy you are playing ? [Regretfully."] And
I was to take such pride in you ! Now let me be
proud of you.
The Shepherd
Ba-a !
Patelin
Are you feeding me on goose? [Fiercely."] By
Gog's arms ! Have I lived to see myself jeered at
by an oaf, a sheep in clothing, a filthy churl !
The Shepherd
Ba-a !
Patelin \in gentle reproach]
Is this the only word I am to hear ? If you are
merely fooling, say so, and spare me further argu-
ment. \A slight paused] Come to my house for
supper, Lambkin.
[93]
MASTER PIERRE PATELIN
Shepherd [glances at Patelin cunningly ; then
gives a loud bleat]
Ba-a-a !
Patelin [half to himself]
By Saint John, you are right ! The goslings
take the geese to pasture. [To himself. ,] I thought
myself the master of all deceivers, here and else-
where ; of the old stagers, too, and of such as pay
their debts on Doomsday ; but a mere shepherd
leaves me behind ! [To the Shepherd, who is trying
to make good his escaped] By Saint James ! if I
could find a bailiff, I 'd have you nabbed !
'The Shepherd [dodging about y while Patelin endeav-
ours to head him off*]
a-a! Ba-a-a!
Patelin [trying to get hold of the Shepherd"]
Hm ! Ba-a! Hang me if I don't go after a
good bailiff! Bad luck to him if he doesn't put
you into gaol !
The Shepherd [fleeing]
If he finds me, I '11 forgive him !
EXPLICIT
[94]
NOTES ON THE TEXT
NOTES ON THE TEXT
Page 4. * The Conjuring-book.' Guillemette means le gri-
maire, a derivative of grammatua ( = ( Latin grammar ' ) . For
several centuries the superstitious regarded le grimaire (English
* gramary ' ) as a work having some occult connexion with the
Devil. See, for instance, the fabliau of Martin Hap art, vol. ii,
p. 176, in the Recueil general et complet des fabliaux. In the
fabliau of Le roi d y Angleterre et le jongleur d y Ely> ib*, p. 242,
gry moire seems to mean 'rigmarole.' In Rabelais (iv, 45) we
read: * Autour de luy estoient trois prebstres bien ras et tonsures,
lisans le grimoyre et conjurans les diables.' To give in modern
speech the exact connotation of le grimaire is quite impossible,
II
Page 4. ' Charlemaine in Spain.' The first verses of the Song
of Roland state that Charles the Great spent full seven years
in Spain.
in
Page 5. 'Slyboots/ Le Roy reads cbaudes testes ; Levet
changes cbaudes to saiges. Levet' s alteration seems to indicate
that cbaudes testes was no longer clear in 1489, or thereabouts,
and had, therefore, to be replaced by a more familiar expression.
In my opinion, cbaudes testes was slang, and meant something
very different from the translation that I have offered. At all
[97]
NOTES ON THE TEXT
events, to think of this wily barrister as ' hot-headed ' would
be to endow him with a characteristic scarcely in keeping with
his personality as it is portrayed in the remainder of the piece.
A dare-devil he is, but self-controlled. It was trickery, not anger
or violence, that caused Maitre Pierre to spend a Saturday in the
pillory.
IV
Page 5. c Silks and satins,* a rough equivalent of camelos
. . et . . camocas. Camlet, or chamlet, to give the English
forms of camelot and cbamelot, seems to have been a thick,
wavy material, originally composed of camel's hair or goat's hair,
but later, apparently, of silk and wool. < Of fees and robes
hadde he many oon,* says Chaucer of his Sergeant of the Law,
and Rabelais scoffingly mentions *l'avocat, seigneur de Came-
lotiere,' uncle of * le medecin d'eau douce, feu Amer' (ProL
Book v). Camoca was probably a silken stuff", also sumptuous.
Patelin's envious thrust at the gorgeously robed lawyers strikes
home ; for they, as well as the half-starved throng of pettifoggers
to which Patelin belongs, were bent upon filling their wallets by
hook or by crook. Commines (vi, 5 ) was indignant at their
corrupt practices ; generations later they aroused the strorn of
Montaigne and excited the sarcasm of Moliere.
V
Page 6. f [Counting on his finger /] * the only stage-direc-
tion to be found in any known fifteenth-century text of Patelin.
VI
Page 8. 'Undergarment.' The original seems to contain a
complicated pun on blancket, which may be taken as the dimin-
utive of blanc (English * blank'), a small coin; or may mean
f blanket ' for a bed, or a petticoat * -, or even be the antonym
of brunet, the masculine of brunette. The actor who performed
[98]
NOTES ON THE TEXT
the part of Patelin was no doubt made up to look pale (fade)
and boozy (j>otatif), as we shall see further on (pp. 48 and
87). If Patelin is both pale and boozy, he is blanch et* This
farce contains several puns of varying merit ; but the reader will
pardon the translator both for his inability to do them justice, and
for passing them henceforth in silence.
VII
Page 17. *"GodVpennies. ? The system of giving a trades-
man earnest-money still survives ; but nowadays we call it a
* deposit,* rather than * God's-penny,' as it was commonly
called by our medieval ancestors.
In the Middle Ages it seems to have been customary to give the
God's-penny to the purveyor, or to his agent (see Du Cange),
as a token of religious obligation to pay the whole debt within a
certain period, not on Doomsday, in the manner of Master Pate-
lin. Often, if not always, the denier a Dieu (denarius Dei) was
dropped into a box somewhere near the church, or either in or
near the market-place. There it remained till removed by a serv-
ant of the Church. My stage-direction follows closely the tradi-
tion of the Comedie Francaise, and is probably not a contradiction
of history.
VIII
Page 1 8. ( Saturday.' Market-day regularly fell on Saturday.
See Note xiv.
IX
Page 1 8. ' Saint Maudeleyne's day.' Magdalen College at
Oxford, despite its spelling, preserves the Middle English pro-
nunciation. I have chosen the popular form because of its eu-
phonious nature and its more popular, less sacred air. Saint
Maudeleyne's day is the 22 July.
[99 j
NOTES ON THE TEXT
X
Page 21. 'That goose.' Patelin says, in the original, 'Et
si mengeres de mon oye, 5 a grimly humorous phrase ; for,
in the first place, Master Pierre has no goose, and, furthermore,
manger de j'eye, or de P oue, was a proverbial expression, mean-
ing approximately 'to get something not bargained for/ or, as
we say, 'to go on. a fool's errand,' or on * a wild-goose chase.'
Imagine the pleasure with which an early audience would have
Hstened to this bit of dramatic irony.
XI
Page 24. 'That trickster,' etc. These few words damn the
Draper. He makes himself fair game, and his subsequent mis-
fortunes are justified from an artistic point of view, however little
they are justified by morality.
XII
Page 27. * Guillaume.' In the fifteenth century ' Guil-
laume ' meant not only 'William,' but also 'dunce' or 'gull.'
It would be easy to cite many similar applications of English
baptismal names. Jack-pudding, Jackanapes, Tomfool, Willy,
Neddy, Johnny (a town fop who haunts green-rooms, or any
effeminate man-about- town), Miss Nancy, and Ralph Spooner
will do for examples, ' Chaque nation,' says Montaigne (i,
46), 'a quelques noms qui se prennent, je ne scay comment,
en mauvaise part : et a nous Jehan, Guillaume, Benoit. ' Mon-
taigne goes on to say that at a banquet given by Henry Duke of
Normandy the guests were grouped at table according to their
names. At the first table sat one hundred and ten knights named
Guillaume.
XIII
Page 27. 'Let's bind the bargain with a drink.' The im~
NOTES ON THE TEXT
plication is obvious ; but could Patelin have got any publican to
trust him ? See page 8 of the text.
XIV
Page 30. 'That Saturday they put you in the stocks.'
Saturday was chosen because it was market-day (see Note vm).
The prisoner's ignominy would thus be known, not only to his
fellow townsmen, but also to the crowds who flocked in from the
neighbouring country. Here we encounter, therefore, one of sev-
eral flaws or inconsistencies in the plot of Patelin. Even so dull
a fool as the Draper could hardly be ignorant of Patelin' s repu-
tation ; indeed he calls him a trickster, as we have seen ; never-
theless he trusts Patelin, and actually expects to receive payment
and have a bite of Patelin' s goose.
XV
Page 31. * Saint Mat. ' Mathurinus was a saint in Gasti-
nois (Gatinais), a district lying southwest of Paris. Saint Mathe-
lin, to give his popular name, was * held to be the Physitian, or
Patron of madfooles' (Cotgrave). * Saint Vitus*s dance ' is one
of the few English phrases left over from a time when various
saints supplied names for as many kinds of maladies. The liberty
of abbreviating the name has been taken because Mathelin '
would rime disagreeably (in prose) with f Patelin,' and because
* Mathelin ' is in any case a name without meaning, so far as most
persons are concerned.
XVI
Page 38. * This must have happened since sunrise, then, ' etc.
On page 68 we learn that the trial takes place about six o'clock.
In the fifteenth century the hours had come to be reckoned as
they are now. Therefore the whole action of Patelin consumes
some ten or twelve hours of daylight, and the first great comedy
[
NOTES ON THE TEXT
composed in a modern tongue observes the Unity of Time, if we
understand that term according to traditional canons. In reality
the imagination needs only about an hour and a quarter to learn
a series of events which occupy, with intervals not altogether easy
to determine, a period lasting approximately from rather early in
the morning till dusk.
Now, as to the Unity of Place. On the medieval stage the
various scenes of a story were visualised, not by the shifting of
scenery, but by the juxtaposition of all the structures necessary to
the performance of a given piece. From the beginning of a play
to its close the stage-setting remained unchanged. Such, at any
rate, was the character of the < serious drama,' and there is no
good reason for supposing that a wholly different arrangement
obtained in the performing of farces ( see Preface, pages xiii and
xiv) . We may assume that on one side of a broad stage stood
the Draper's shop, or some structure intended to represent it.
On the other side stood Patelin's abode, designated, perhaps, by
hardly more than a wall with a door in it (see the woodcut,
page 33), and that 'this door opened upon an area representing
a market-place, or, at all events, a space wide enough to lend some
plausibility to the events set forth in Patelin. If we grant this
to be true, the Unity of Place, also, is observed in Patelin. The
setting adopted by the Comedie Francaise is unquestionably very
different from that of the Middle Ages, and does not observe the
Unity of Place, if by that term we mean one and the same local-
ity completely visible at a given moment.
In Patelin the Unity of Action is not marred by any irrelevant
digression, though certain entrances are too timely. But this same
flaw is common in Moliere, whose characters often appear on the
scene with no better warrant than a Mais le voila qui vient,*
or some other similar phrase. As late as Labiche unjustified en-
trances are still common; but the most modern playwrights, when
they are genuine artists, avoid this defect in dramatic construction.
NOTES ON THE TEXT
XVII
Page 39. f Rose water,* etc. In the Middle Ages rose water
was supposed to be efficacious in restoring persons who felt faint,
or who had fallen into a swoon. Recipes for distilling this remedy
have been preserved by numerous works on medicine.
In his essay * On Three Good Women * (n, 35 ), Montaigne
speaks of rubbing the feet as if that had been a common way of
restoring life or vitality.
XVIII
Page 40. < Marmara, carimari, carimara.' This gibberish
seems to parody some weird formula once used by priests in per-
forming exorcisms upon persons supposedly possessed. We have
much the same sort of thing in the mild incantation < Ena, mena,
mina, mo ! Catch a nigger by the toe,' etc., or in <Fe, fi, fo,
mm ! I smell the blood of an Englishmun ! ' As Patelin is being
plagued by e black men,' the conjecture that <marmara, carimari,
carimara* is a burlesque of some formula of exorcism, seems
highly plausible, though these particular syllables may imitate some
rigmarole in the patter of fifteenth-century trick-performing mounte-
banks.
XIX
Page 40. 'Away with them! away!* The text reads,
Amenes les moy, amenes ! ' In the so-called Chroniqtie scan-
daleuse (A. D. 14601483), and in various other medieval texts,
amener is more than once used for emmener. My translation is
warranted, therefore, by pure philology as well as by common
sense.
XX
Page 40. C A stole.* When a priest had occasion to drive
away the devil, it was desirable, if not indispensable, that he
should use a stole, the symbol of obedience*. For a detailed de-
NOTES ON THE TEXT
scription of this custom, which, is still common in the Roman
Catholic Church, see my * Exorcism with a Stole,' in Modern
Language Notes for December, 1904.
XXI
Page 42. 'My water.' Medieval physicians set great store
by the examination of urinal symptoms. A large number of manu-
scripts treating of this subject have come down, and literary allu-
sions are common as late as the eighteenth century.
XXII
Page 44. * No goose. 9 At this period geese were a luxury
not often relished by persons like our Draper, and one may im-
agine how he had set his heart on eating this delicacy at Pate-
lin's table. See Note x.
XXIII
Page 48. * Three lessons and three psalms.' Between the
eleventh and fourteenth centuries the Franciscans began to feel
that the Breviary required them to recite too many lessons and
too many psalms. So they reduced the number from nine to
three, at least, on certain occasions only three lessons and three
psalms were required. In the thirteenth century it became cus-
tomary in France to recite only three psalms at matins throughout
Easter, nor was this easy-going way characteristic merely of the
Abbey of Fecamp, as a famous passage in Rabelais might lead us
to suppose. ' ft According to what usage," said Gargantua [to the
monk], < f do you say these beautiful hours ? " " According
to the usage of Fecamp," said the monk, "with three lessons
and three psalms, or, for those who are unwilling, nothing at
all." * ( Gargantua, i, 41. )
Before the days of printing, breviaries were so costly that they
were often chained to a bench in the choir, and each monk or
[ I0 4 ]
NOTES ON THE TEXT
priest had to learn the minimum by heart. That those who knew
only the minimum should have excited the pity or scorn of their
more diligent brethren, and that their feelings should have been
expressed in such a manner as to give rise to this proverbial taunt,
is not contrary to the tendencies of human nature. The Draper
could hardly have hit upon a more ludicrously appropriate phrase
to express his contemptuous indignation and his self-esteem.
XXIV
Page 50. 'The Abbot of Ivernaux.* The Abbey of Iver-
naux, or Hivernaux, was situate near the hamlet called Brie-Comte-
Robert, which lies some twenty miles southeast of Paris, in
whose archbishopric was the Church of Ivernaux. The Abbey of
Ivernaux was sadly weakened by the wars of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries.
But to what Abbot of Ivernaux is Patelin alluding ?
In a lease dated 1441, and in another dated 1451, one Nico-
las Bottelin is spoken of as * abbot. * Another lease, dated 1 46 1 ,
applies the title to a Jean d' Arquevilliers. Philippe seems to have
been the name of an Abbot of Ivernaux who signed a lease on
31 March, 1468.
Whatever may be the advantage of knowing these names,
very barren things at best, it is worth our while to learn that
in 1468, the year before Patelin first entered an extant record,
the Abbot of Ivernaux was no longer a power, for his abbacy
had sunk into poverty ; yet even a certain wealth and influence
would hardly have saved the Abbot of Ivernaux from being the
butt of Patelin' s somewhat lewd jocularity, and we may be sure
that our lawyer in his sham delirium was not shooting an arrow
at the moon. The abbot was doubtless a gay fellow, and a worthy
contemporary of Huguette du Hamel, who, notwithstanding her
intimacy with Francois Villon and other reprobates, and although
she had been guilty of inciting a hireling to murder, could still
[
NOTES ON THE TEXT
hold her position as Abbess of Port-Royal. Yet the real import-
ance of this allusion to the Abbot of Ivernaux is that it seems to
show* that our farce was composed to be performed in the region
round about Brie-Comte-Robert ; for it is unlikely that this par-
ticular abbot's fame had spread very far beyond the bounds of his
abbacy.
XXV
Page 5 1. 'Mere de diou/ etc. In this and the following
passages of dialect or jargon the translator was confronted by a
problem of serious difficulty. Three courses seemed possible :
(^) to transform Patelin into an out-and-out English farce, chang-
ing the names of the characters, and transplanting the scene to
medieval England ; (F) to preserve the point of Guillemette's
explanations by leaving Patelin' s reveries untranslated; (r) to
adopt the plan chosen by Albrecht Count Wickenburg, who, in
his excellent verse-translation into German (Vienna, 1883),
leaves no foreign words save the Latin, substituting for the other
dialects and jargons certain passages of his own invention, in
which Patelin is made to rave, now like a delirious alchemist who
talks incoherently of quicksilver, sulphur, etc., or like a dying
man who pretends to see the flames of hell, as well as other phe-
nomena unnecessary to mention.
Similar approximations will be found in Fournier's version
(1871) and in a later (undated) version by Eudoxie Dupuis.
The present translation, however, aims at the highest degree of
literaBty consistent with the use of idiomatic, comprehensible Eng-
lish, and aims, furthermore, to be loyal to what is not merely a
farce, but also a document of historical importance. I doubt that
the retention of these passages will destroy the reader's illusion :
he will probably understand the obscurest of them quite as well
as they were understood by Patelin 1 s first audience ; the others
will simply be somewhat less intelligible than they seemed to
Frenchmen in 1469. It may be added that the author of Patelin
[ 106 ]
NOTES ON THE TEXT
has made these passages so long as to render them rather boresome
from a modern point of view ; for, even if one understands them
pretty well, they lack a certain charm which brevity imparts.
I have not hesitated, therefore, to shorten them slightly ; but a
comparison with any fifteenth-century edition will show the reader
how the cutting was done. It seemed undesirable to attempt here
in the Notes what would be a fragmentary and not very interest-
ing series of translations.
XXVI
Page 54. f But how does he come to speak Norman.' Not
in the original; added for clearness.
XXVII
Page 57. c Quid.' Qtti in the original. A mistake due, per-
haps, to the fact that d final in French is generally silent.
XXVIII
Page 57. The original text of Guillemette's speech is corrupt.
My translation is based on a temporary attempt at restoration.
XXIX
Page 58. f How do you like me for a teacher ? ' in the
original, Avant vous ay je lien aprms. Fifteenth-century syntax
allows a so-called masculine past participle to go with a feminine
antecedent. Vous means not the Draper, but Guillemette.
XXX
Page 59. The long stage- direction describes how this episode
of Patelin is wound up at the Comedie Francaise. The medieval
stage had no curtain, and we have no means of knowing how
Patelin and Guillemette made themselves inconspicuous at the
close of this scene.
[ 107 ]
NOTES ON THE TEXT
XXXI
Page 60. e The Shepherd.' The Shepherd's entrance is too
timely. Nothing in the plot warrants his appearance at precisely
this instant. Similar unjustified entrances are common in Moliere,
who, as has been said (Note xvi), often uses some stock formula
to keep a character from seeming to blunder in.
XXXII
Page 60. 'Some one or other in striped hosen.' This was
a Sergent a verge, an officer empowered to make arrests, effect
seizures, etc.
XXXIII
Page 62. <By Saint Lupus.' The Shepherd's oath is well
chosen ; for wolves were still a pest at this period. Saint Lupus
(Saint Wolf, to translate his name) was called Saint Leu in Old
French. As late as 1633 there was standing near that Noyon
which is mentioned on page 87 a monastery dedicated to Saint
Leu, who was honoured, also, at Troyes in Champagne.
XXXIV
Page 64. r A dealer.' The Shepherd does not name the
f dealer * ; Patelin, on his side, neglects, or the dramatist, for his
own convenience or through carelessness, neglects to have Patelin
inquire as to the dealer's identity. So Patelin, on arriving at
the trial, is astonished to confront the very individual whom he
has himself cheated. The Draper, as we have seen, had lied to
Patelin by telling him that his whole flock had perished in the
great frost (page 1 8). That our crafty lawyer should fail to make
the Shepherd divulge his master's name seems incredible ; it is to
this flaw in characterisation that we owe one of the most comic
features of the trial scene, namely the unexpected meeting of the
Lawyer and his dupe.
C
NOTES ON THE TEXT
XXXV
Page 67. * Answer nothing but ba-a,* etc. In the second
part of his edition of A C. Mery Tales and Quicke Answers
(Sbakespere Jest Books, page 60), Mr. W. Carew Hazlitt has
reprinted the anecdote * Of hym that payde his dette with crienge
bea. * In this version the Shepherd is replaced by a spendthrift ;
otherwise the anecdote is nothing more nor less than a kind of
disguised summary of the plot of Patelin from verse 1067 (in
this translation, from Scene xvn) to the end. Whether this par-
ticular anecdote figured in the edition of the C. Mery Tales
printed by John Rastell about 1525, Mr. Hazlitt does not say.
It entered, at all events, into the collection printed by Thomas
Berthelet about 1535. Assuming this date to be nearly correct,
we may assert that our French farce must have been known in
England a century before Rabelais. It was, therefore, not through
Rabelais that Patelin began to influence English literature.
The legal episodes of Patelin, as they appear in the C. Mery
Tales, might be conceived to occur at almost any time and in
almost any country ; for no names are given. In PasquiP s yests
(see Hazlitt, op. tit*, vol. in, pp. 45, 46), of which several
editions were printed in the first half of the seventeenth century,
we find almost exactly the same story, slightly shortened and
with the scene laid in London. The version in Pasquil's Jests
is derived, without doubt, from the earlier English version, and
not from the French text. There can be no question of folklore
in this matter : what we have is a loan, made through a literary
channel.
To sum up : The last third of Patelin was epitomised for Eng-
lish readers in the first third of the sixteenth century. But, to go
further, I will venture the opinion that Patelin, in one or more
of the many editions printed in France and in the fifteenth cen-
tury, had crossed the Channel before 1500, and it was no doubt
[ I0 9 ]
NOTES ON THE TEXT
from one of these original texts that some more or less literary
person derived his summary. Yet it was probably through. Rabe-
lais that the wily Patelin became known for the first time to a
considerable number of people in England. See Introduction,
page xxxvi ff.
XXXVI
Page 69. f Welcome, sir ! * The Judge has no reason to sup-
pose that Patelin has a client, but he knows that lawyer. See the
beginning of the piece and notice that the Judge invites Patelin
to supper (page 86).
XXXVII
Page 75. f Come! Let's stick to those sheep!' *$us !
Revenons a ces moutons ! ' cries the Judge, and he coins one of
those neat and useful phrases which soon make their way from
country to country, entering the every -day speech of persons quite
unaware to whom or what they are indebted. In his essay on
Marlowe ( Old English Dramatists) James Russell Lowell says,
( But it is high time that I should remember Maitre Guillaume of
Patelin s and return to my sheep. * The mention of * Guillaume '
indicates that Lowell had read Patelin, and that he was not
merely borrowing the words * to return to our sheep ' from Rabe-
lais. In the first chapter of Gargantua> Rabelais says, * Retour-
nant a nos moutons, je vous dis . . .'; but it is likely that the
MS had been substituted for the less convenient ces (a homonym
of ses") a good while before Rabelais read Patelin* Owing to
facetiousness rather than to ignorance, moutons is usually rendered
not by 'sheep,' but by 'muttons/ a mistranslation which
neatly indicates the proverb's Gallic origin.
XXXVIII
Page 87. * Brainless* (Esservele) figured, no doubt, in some
farce or morality no longer extant. In * Mr. Golightly/ * Dob-
[ no ]
NOTES ON THE TEXT
bin,' etc., not to mention many allegorical names in the older
comedy, English furnishes parallels.
XXXIX
Page 87. Of Jean de Noyon nothing is known save what we
may infer from the text of Patelin. Assuredly he was a real
character, contemporary with the audience for which Patelm was
first performed, and one may surmise that he was more or less
notorious, and that he bore a strong, perhaps a comic, likeness to
the actor who first played the part of Patelm. But this is guess-
work. Whatever the truth may be, it is highly improbable that
this Jean belonged to the noble family having its seat at Noyon ;
for this family seems to have died out before the fifteenth century ;
nor do I find a Jean de Noyon among the few Fools whose names
have been handed down.
XL
Page 89. Why has the Shepherd remained? Simply to fur-
nish another scene, one of the best scenes of all ; but obviously
Lambkin had a good chance to escape when, the Judge dismissed
him. In real life so canny a rogue would not fail to make him-
self scarce as soon as possible.
XLI
Page 94. Here occurs the first bit of moralising in Patelm /
but the Lawyer is not repentant ; he is crestfallen at being
outwitted by a shepherd : that is all. His chagrin is followed
by a touch of anger, yet it is only a touch, and we may fancy
a sardonic grin passing over his lean countenance as he looks again
at the * sheep in clothing ' who has so admirably carried out his
own instructions.
Genuine moralisations, such as one finds in the younger Du-
mas and in certain plays by Mr. Bernard Shaw, are exceedingly
rare in the old French farces.
NOTES ON THE TEXT
XLII
Page 94. < If he finds me, I *11 forgive him I * These are the
last words in all the old editions. They break the Shepherd's
promise (page 67), but our dramatist, knowing human nature
and drawing it with a sure hand, leaves his work with no weak
or awkward ending. It is a skilful stroke to have the Shepherd
behave like a man, after he has so ably behaved like a sheep.
What becomes of him ? We imagine that he continues his mis-
deeds till, after a while, he is nabbed, brought to book, and, hav-
ing no Patelin to defend him, is properly hanged.
NOTES ON THE CUTS
NOTES ON THE CUTS
THE edition of Patelin published by Genin in 1854 contains
inaccurate reproductions of five of Levet's illustrative woodcuts:
to wit, the first, second, third, fourth, and sixth. But with
characteristic whimsicality or carelessness Genin borrowed
the first and fourth from an inferior edition of Patelin by Jehan
Treperel.^ The trial scene Genin got from Beneaut's Patelin
(A. D. 1490), though he could have copied the original cut in
Levet's edition. Beneaut's two almost identical cuts of the trial
scene were not made from the block used by Levet, as some
writers have stated ; for Levet's cut has not the same dimensions
as the two in Beneaut's edition.
In 1 870 Baillieu, * marchant libraire sur le quay des grids augus-
tins a Paris,' to quote his pseudo-archaic colophon, published in
the so-called * Bibliotheque gothique' what he apparently in-
tended to pass off as a facsimile, or, at any rate, as a reprint of
Levet's Patelin. Not only does Baillieu' s edition contain many
gross textual blunders, but it so distorts Levet's cuts as to give
* The Treperel Patelin, from which Genin seems to have borrowed his
cuts, must have appeared after 13 October, 1499 5 ^ or * te colophon reads thus :
Imprime a Pans par Jehan treperel demourant a la rue satnct iacques pres
satnct yues a lymaige saint laurtm. Treperel had been obliged to remove to the
above address after the fall of the Pont Nostre Dame on the 13 October,
H99-
[ "5 ]
NOTES ON THE CUTS
a wholly false impression. In a word, BaHHeu's Patelin is an
out-and-out imposture and even worse than worthless.
Inasmuch as no one else has attempted in modern times, in so
far as I am aware, to reproduce Levet's woodcuts, the facsimiles
in this volume can rightly be called the first that have ever been
made. They differ from the originals in the respect that no attempt
has been made to imitate Levet's paper, or to reproduce the marks
of age. Certain imperfections in Levet's cuts indicate, ap-
parently, either that the only known exemplar of his edition was
one of the last to be printed, or that the paper was not properly
wetted. I may add that Levet's sixth illustration, to judge by
the Shepherd's beard and other inconsistencies of drawing, can
hardly have been made by the engraver who executed the other
illustrations. See the Preface, page xiii.
The printer's mark of Pierre Levet appears on the first page
of his Patelin, and serves as a frontispiece to the present volume.
Levet did not use the same block when he put this mark in his
edition of Villon in 1489.
As to the value of Levet's illustrations of Pate /in f see the Pre-
face, pages ix and xiii.
Levet's seven woodcuts are here reproduced by permission of
M. Leopold Delisle, former Head Librarian of the Bibliotheque
Nationale.
Electrolysed andjrznUd Sy H. 0. Houghttm &> Co
Cambridge, Mast., U", S A
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11